Even though there is little to no chance of it passing U.S. Congress, an American man is proposing a supply management system for grain in the United States.

Director of the Agriculture Policy Analysis Center, Harwood Schaffer, gave a presentation at the Farm Forum Event last week in Calgary, AB.

Schaffer explained what the supply management system could like like.

"We would first have a loan rate, and farmers would be able to take out a loan on their crop, if the price is not above the cost of that loan plus interest, they could then forfeit the grain to the Government. The Government would hold it in storage off the market, so it would reduce the market surplus, and increase the price."

Schaffer says, in times where there is a shortfall of production, and the price is above 175 per cent of the loan rate, the grain would then come back into the market.

His argument is, if they get a good price in the U.S., that will give a good price to Canadian farmers, since the U.S. is the world price.

When it comes to trade, Schaffer says, agriculture is so different, therefore it should not be included in the full North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

He says, agriculture should be treated as a side agreement to NAFTA.

"We ought to allow supply management, so that Canadian farmers in the East can have supply management for milk, chicken, and eggs, and we'll have supply management for grains in the U.S., and that will provide a good price."

During his presentation at the Farm Forum Event, Schaffer also touched on a misconception in the future of agriculture.

"We have this myth going around that we're going to have trouble feeding 9.5 billion people by 2050. We could do that in a snooze. We have the ability to do the production, and to meet that, and greater, the problem is that we've got at least a billion people, that even if the price of corn got down to $2.00, they couldn't afford to buy it."

Schaffer says, this means their basically out of the market, so we need to find other ways to make sure nobody starves.

Shaffer speaking at the Telus Convention Centre in Calgary, AB.