A deadline is a deadline, Saskatchewan agriculture minister Mark Wartman maintained last week.
But one farmer who tried to negotiate payment terms for his crop insurance bill after the March 31 deadline said the government should be more flexible.
Rick Wildfong of Craik came to the Saskatchewan legislature April 20 because he wanted to see if the government would “give a little” on its position that farmers had to set up payments before the deadline.
He owes the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. $12,000, but didn’t try to negotiate payments because he hadn’t been able to sell any malting barley in the last six months.
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Barley represents half his crop and was the only grain he had left to sell.
Wildfong didn’t anticipate being able to move any so soon, but the Canadian Wheat Board called for it the first week in April.
He contacted crop insurance and asked for an extension so he could pay his bill in full, even though his coverage had already been dropped. He was told no.
“I know I was 10 days late,” he told reporters. “I know I was.”
But he believes in private business there would still have been room to make arrangements and the government could operate the same way. He didn’t appreciate crop insurance employees telling him he should have budgeted better.
“It looks to me like they’re trying to kill us,” he said, adding that the three employees he spoke with are part of an “arrogant mean-spirited bunch.”
Wartman said Wildfong could have used his barley as an asset to obtain short-term financing from a lender and pay his bill.
But Wildfong said he has only participated in crop insurance the last two years to obtain a spring cash advance.
He said he still owed money on his fall advance and didn’t want to apply for a spring advance until the previous one was paid. That was another reason for his delay in contacting the corporation, he said.
Saskatchewan Party agriculture critic Bob Bjornerud raised Wildfong’s case during question period. Wildfong said he wasn’t impressed with the NDP government’s performance and Wartman’s answers.
“It’s a big joke to them,” he said.
Wildfong said even if the government changed its mind now he wouldn’t necessarily take crop insurance.
“I won’t take special treatment unless (Wartman) treats every farmer the same way.”
