Walter Finlay spent much of last year tending to weeds rather than wheat crops.
He was among the farmers in western Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan whose land was too wet to seed.
He planted only 20 acres of his usual 2,000 in 1999.
But there was still the cost of spraying and cultivating to keep the weeds in check. For Finlay, who farms near Souris, that cost went as high as $75 per acre.
The Manitoba government delivered payments of up to $50 per acre to farmers unable to plant a crop in 1999. The province also promised to lobby Ottawa for money to help maintain the land too wet to seed last year. There were hopes the federal government would support compensation to farmers for lost input costs.
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Finlay is among those still hoping for some form of government compensation to offset the costs of spraying and tilling his unseeded cropland last year.
If the provincial and federal governments think the issue will fade with the passage of time, they should think again, he said.
“I think the governments were hoping for that, but I have told them both that I won’t let it die.”
Keystone Agricultural Producers has not abandoned the cause either. Manitoba’s general farm group has lobbied provincially and federally for the kind of assistance sought by Finlay.
“There’s been no movement by either government,” said KAP president Don Dewar. “We keep reminding them that this can’t be allowed to fall through the cracks.”
The province has stuck with its position that it will provide the compensation being sought only if Ottawa covers 90 percent of the cost, Dewar said.
The federal government earlier this year made it clear that the compensation would not be coming through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement. Ottawa has shown no sign since then that it’s serious about compensating farmers for lost inputs and the expense of maintaining unseeded fields last year.
“Given the grain economy in particular, those people are never going to get back what they lost,” Dewar said.
Arthur-Virden MLA Larry Maguire said a program is needed with a “clearer trigger” for getting money to producers during natural disasters.
He figures partisan politics have kept Manitoba’s provincial NDP government from reaching an agreement with the Liberals in Ottawa on how to further help farmers affected by last spring’s flooding.
“They have both neglected this terribly,” said Maguire, a Tory whose constituency was among the areas worst hit by flooding.
