WINNIPEG – Farmers need more time and information if federal and provincial agriculture ministers want their help in a national review of crop insurance, according to a farm lobby group.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture sent a letter to agriculture minister Ralph Goodale last week urging him to change the timetable for the review, which is now slated to wrap up by the end of March.
The ministers asked for the review at a meeting last summer. A committee of a dozen provincial bureaucrats and farmers leading the review did not meet until the end of November.
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The committee released a discussion paper in early January, and each province will hold meetings with farmers in February.
Needs hard numbers
But CFA president Jack Wilkinson, who is part of the committee, said it doesn’t contain enough hard numbers about options and costs for changing crop insurance.
“If you’re going to ask farmers to look at changes, it’s absolutely inappropriate for either the federal or provincial government to not work these numbers out and make them available,” Wilkinson said, adding the purpose of the review is also unclear.
Mike Ellis, a director in Agriculture Canada’s policy branch, said the review will look at what’s wrong with current programs and options for change. He said agreements between the federal and provincial governments are reviewed every five years.
Ellis said the ministers wanted a tight timetable so legislative changes, if needed, can be made for the 1997 crop year.
But Wilkinson said the current crop insurance legislation is flexible enough to allow provinces to change their programs.
Wilkinson pointed to Manitoba’s new crop insurance program as an example. It provides 50 percent coverage for long-term average yields to farmers for a small sign-up fee. Farmers can choose to buy higher levels of coverage.
Barry Routledge, a Manitoba farmer who is part of the review committee, said he’s confident the deadlines will be extended so farmers will have more time to study options.
According to the review’s timetable, the committee was to provide a status report to the agriculture ministers on Jan. 25. This is the same date the ministers were scheduled to meet in Toronto.
Wilkinson said unless the timetable is changed, farmers will likely want to stick to the status quo, which is one of the option listed in the discussion paper.
“You’re not going to get producer groups and general farm organization to advocate wholesale change in either delivery or program design if they have not enough time to look at the down-side and the up-side … of those changes,” he said.
