If there is one concept Canadian farmers have held onto as offering a ray of hope for better returns in the future it's the idea of free trade agreements.
The idea of free trade agreements began in the mid 1980s as Canada and the United States began negotiating a deal.
That deal was hammered out and finally signed in January 1989, and eventually evolved into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which includes Mexico, which was inked in 1994.
At the time proponents of NAFTA saw an agreement as ensuring trade to the huge American market. They held out hopes it would stop many of the protectionist measures the United States used to block trade, and that would mean a greater share of the huge market which in turn would help business in general and farmers in particular realize greater returns.
With nearly a decade of NAFTA the great hope of the agreement can be seen as a mirage, or as a glowing example of how such deals are supposed to work.
The pork, soft wood lumber, cereal grains and other sectors might well point out they have faced several court challenges to trade which have cost millions to fight in terms of legal fees, and of course have been a nuisance to the free flow of goods.
In the farm sector too you might make the argument NAFTA has not exactly stabilized farm incomes because the sectors of the industry have lost substantial amounts over the years. Perhaps NAFTA was a buffer to protect farmers from even lower prices, but it has not made farmers wealthy.
Since NAFTA Canada has inked several more free trade deals, most with countries which do not garner a lot of thought in terms of being significant markets. The list includes Cost Rica, Columbia, Chile, Peru and Israel.
The sum total of the deals hasn't seemed to tipped the farm economy in favour of profitability.
That said the idea of free trade deals still holds out that hope.
Perhaps the most significant of the deals could be inked this summer, and that is with South Korea.
South Korea is perhaps not as high profile as China and India in terms of population and economic growth, but it is growing in both regards and that signals greater demand for imports.
Korea has long been a major market for Canadian agriculture products.
Canada was once the second biggest supplier of pork to Korea, after the U.S. However, Canada is now third behind Chile which inked a free trade agreement with Korea in 2004. The Canadian hog sector hopes a free trade deal will help rebuild this country's market share.
In terms of beef South Korea has banned Canadian beef imports since 2003, when the first case OF BSE was discovered. Canada has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization which could be ruled on later this year, but Korea may lift the ban as part of a free trade deal too.
If a deal is hammered out with South Korea later this year as expected it may be the case where farmers really see if the concept works to make them more money.
However, with free trade deals being inked by countries all over the world these days the agreements may be less a case of advantage and one of simply maintaining the status quo, and that means farmers may still not see returns are levels they hope for.
