A delegation was in Ottawa last week trying to pry $85 million from the federal coffers for Manitoba farmers affected by excess moisture last spring.
The delegation met with several influential members of Parliament, including federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief.
Brandon mayor Reg Atkinson, a member of the delegation, said they were greeted with some sympathy. However, the sympathy did not translate into the promise of a cheque from Ottawa.
“People have been listening and they’ve been making a lot of notes,” Atkinson said Feb. 16.
Read Also
Canola oil transloading facility opens
DP World just opened its new canola oil transload facility at the Port of Vancouver. It can ship one million tonnes of the commodity per year.
“What we need is somebody to pull the trigger on this to make things happen.”
The delegation, made up of farmers, business leaders and politicians, wants the federal government to pay affected farmers $25 an acre.
The request includes compensation for the 1.1 million acres of land too wet to seed last spring.
The delegation hopes Ottawa will also pay $25 an acre on land that was seeded but yielded poorly due to excess moisture and the diseases that afflicted later-seeded fields.
Atkinson said they would like the money in farmers’ hands by April 1.
Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk did not join the delegation to Ottawa.
She said the province has done “an awful lot of work” trying to persuade the federal government that last spring’s flooding was a natural disaster that warrants federal compensation.
Wowchuk wants affected farmers that were flooded last spring to receive the same treatment as victims of the ice storms in Eastern Canada and the Red River Valley flood of 1997.
Brandon-Souris MP Rick Borotsik said the issue of flooded farmland in western Manitoba must be distinguished from the general farm crisis caused by low commodity prices.
Borotsik said farmers unable to seed last spring still had to cultivate their land and apply herbicides to keep weeds in check. Much of the fertilizer they applied the previous fall was lost due to the excess moisture.
Farmers in the Red River Valley were compensated for lost input costs after the flood of 1997, he said, noting fairness and consistency are things Ottawa must consider.
Debbie Kooting, a farmer from Rapid City, Man., said she felt shunned because no one north of the Trans-Canada Highway was invited to join the delegation.
Farmers this year will have a better buffer against the consequences of excess moisture.
The Manitoba government in January announced the excess moisture insurance program as part of basic Manitoba Crop Insurance coverage.
The program will pay $50 per acre to producers unable to seed a crop by June 20 due to flooding or excess moisture.
