STE. ADOLPHE, Man. – It’s a small program with limited dollars, but farmers who were at the announcement of the federal government’s program for flooded farmland seemed pleased by its intent.
“I think they’re moving in the right direction,” said local grain farmer Ray Phillippe, who often sees his Red River Valley farmland saturated with water and unable to produce a crop.
“Things like this help.”
Federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl announced a $50 million program to assist in paying the costs of putting in cover crops for farmers whose land flooded in 2005 and 2006.
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About three-quarters of the money will go to Manitoba farmers, many of whom were hurt by heavy summer rains last year and a big spring flood this year. Farmers around Porcupine Plain, Sask., will also receive a significant share of the money.
Farmers who qualify will receive $15 per acre for flooded land lost to production.
Strahl said the flood damage money is a quick response to a problem, but he hopes to permanently plug a hole in production insurance programs that often leaves flooded farmers out of coverage.
“It’s just the beginning. It’s a short-term fix,” said Strahl as he visited a farm in a flood-prone area south of Winnipeg. Land here was under water recently after the Red River poured over its banks, in some places many kilometres wide.
The new Conservative government plans to replace the oft-maligned Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program with separate programs for income stabilization and disaster relief.
Strahl has announced a number of farm payments in the past few weeks, which he hoped people saw as the government “paving the way to a future of separating those two programs.”
Strahl said he hopes permanent flooding coverage can be part of the production insurance component, not the disaster program.
“Producers need to do their part, and that’s to buy in on the production insurance side of it.”
He gave credit for the flood-based cover crop program to Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers group.
“They’ve been pushing for this type of program for a long time,” said Strahl.
“It’s kind of like plagiarism. I’m not claiming we invented this idea. We stole it. But it’s a good program.”
KAP vice-president Ian Wishart said the cover crop program, while small, is a step in the right direction.
“We think the right message is getting out to farmers through this,” said Wishart.
