Prairie farmers need a cash injection of $2.3 billion this spring, according to farm organizations.
That money would be over and above any programs already in place.
“We’ve never seen it in this tough a shape,” said Terry Hildebrandt, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
APAS, Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers and Wild Rose Agricultural Producers in Alberta released a joint report on farm income that they said paints a dismal picture.
In 2004, farmers in the three provinces lost more than $2.2 billion, says the report.
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The organizations used Statistics Canada data to find that from 2002-04, prairie farmers realized an average net income loss of $1.96 billion.
Government payments during the same years averaged $2.866 billion, for a difference of $737 million.
“This $737 million equates to an average income per farm of only $6,700 for each year, assuming that there are 110,000 operating farms sharing this income,” said the report. “An income of $6,700 for three years in a row is nowhere near an acceptable reward to Canadian farmers.”
The study also points out that farm debt continues to rise, sitting at $22 billion at the end of 2003. Servicing that debt, at seven percent interest, would cost $1.54 billion.
“It’s obvious that, in the short term, an immediate cash injection is absolutely necessary,” said WRAP president Bill Dobson in a News release
news.
“Long-term program commitments are welcome but they will mean little if there is no fast action by government. Farmers are facing a crisis and the federal government has to acknowledge it.”
Hildebrandt said the organizations are examining ways that ad hoc payments could get to farmers. They will not suggest how the federal and provincial governments should split payments, he said, adding that he can appreciate the difficulty Saskatchewan would have coming up with more money.
He said payments from existing programs aren’t addressing the true level of hurt.
“The stats are showing we can’t go on this way,” he said. “Look at the land that is up for sale. People are bailing ship.”
The most recent farm income forecasts don’t offer much hope, predicting that farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba will be in the red in 2005.
KAP president David Rolfe said governments and farmers have to work together to find a long-term solution rather than operating from crisis to crisis.
