The Canadian Federation of Agriculture says it is unacceptable that
Ottawa still hasn’t delivered the $600 million in transition funds it
earmarked for farmers earlier this year.
“It’s extremely urgent that that transition money flows,” CFA president
Bob Friesen said last week while touring drought-damaged regions of
Alberta and Saskatchewan.
“It was announced at the end of June and there’s no reason why that
shouldn’t have been in the hands of farmers by the end of July.”
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Friesen said he has talked to elderly farmers who told him this dry
spell is worse than what they experienced in the Dirty Thirties.
Other producers told him they don’t know if they will ever be able to
rebuild the cattle herds that they sold this summer because they
couldn’t afford to feed them.
Friesen spoke with producers at designated stops along his journey
between Edmonton and Saskatoon, where he saw crops that had withered
and died from lack of moisture.
“We saw fields with basically nothing on them.”
The sights and sounds of his western prairie trip reinforced what he
already knew – farmers need money and they needed it yesterday.
Farm organizations have sent a unified message to the federal
government that the $600 million should be doled out based on eligible
net sales and flow in such a way that each province, in conjunction
with its farm groups, can decide how to best spend its share.
While Friesen is happy with Ottawa’s $600 million transition
commitment, he warns it may not be enough.
“We must remember that that money was announced for problems that
happened last year. As far as resolving the funding for this drought,
that is still outstanding.”
Effective crop insurance is another CFA priority.
“We can no longer have insurance programs where farmers say, ‘Well,
it’s not worth it for me to buy the programs.’ “
He said the CFA has already approached the federal government about
improving crop insurance this year, but to no avail.
“If that had happened we might be in a much better situation for the
drought area,” he said.
