Weldon Newton is disappointed after learning how emergency farm aid will be calculated for Manitoba farmers this spring.
The federal-provincial assistance will be based on sales of grain, oilseeds and specialty crops. Producers will receive a payment based on a percentage of those sales.
What disappoints Newton, who owns a mixed farm with a 100-sow, farrow-to-finish operation, is that the program does not cover farm-fed grain.
That means he and other producers who grew grain and fed it to their livestock may receive smaller payments than they would have if farm-fed grain was included in the funding formula.
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“It shouldn’t matter how you market your grain,” said Newton, a vice-president with the farm lobby group Keystone Agricultural Producers.
“It costs the same to grow it, regardless of whether you sell it to Agricore or feed it to your own hogs.”
Under the Canada-Manitoba Adjustment Program 2, Manitoba farmers will receive $92 million in emergency aid this year.
Three-quarters of the money will flow to eligible producers in May. The final payment will come in early fall. Eligible commodities include wheat, barley, buckwheat, canaryseed, canola, oats, flax, corn, beans, peas, forage seed and hemp.
KAP president Don Dewar said governments are sending a mixed message to producers by excluding farm-fed grain. They were told to diversify, he said, and are now being penalized for doing so.
“Farmers shouldn’t be penalized for their grain marketing decisions. Whether a farmer feeds the grain to his own livestock, sells it to a feed mill to feed his neighbor’s livestock, or sells it to the export market, the grain should be covered by this program.”
Manitoba’s safety nets advisory committee, which is made up of Manitoba farmers, was unanimous that farm-fed grain and forage seed sales be included in the program, along with grain and oilseed sales.
Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk said there is less money available in this year’s federal-provincial farm aid package than there was last year.
The province wants the money to go to farmers who are most in need, she said. That was the reason for focusing on producers of grain, oilseeds and special crops.
“We want to do whatever we can to help them get their crops in this spring.”
Wowchuk said she is pleased forage seed producers are now covered and is confident the program will help beginning farmers.
Producers who started farming in either the 1999 or 2000 production years will be able to include the sales of the first seven months of the following year. That will let them base their claim on a full crop year’s sales.
The change will be retroactive to the original adjustment program, which Wowchuk said means additional support for beginning farmers.
Provincial Progressive Conservative agriculture critic Jack Penner welcomed the changes for beginning farmers. He also applauded the decision to let farmers choose their highest qualifying sales year from either 1997, 1998 or 1999.
But he agreed that farm-fed grain should have been included.
“Livestock producers have said grain raised on farms and fed to livestock should be included. I totally agree with that.”
Ian Wishart, president of the Manitoba Forage Council, was among those who read some good news into the aid program. Despite its growing importance in Manitoba , forage seed is an industry that often gets overlooked. Wishart appreciated the recognition forage seed producers received under adjustment program.
Prices for forage seed began to soften two years ago and slumped last year when a major North American buyer went bankrupt.
Wishart, who runs a diverse farming operation near Portage la Prairie, Man., also wanted sales of forages such as timothy hay and alfalfa included.
“But I guess they have to draw the line somewhere.”
