It’s a long way from northern British Columbia’s Peace River agricultural region to the legislative buildings in Victoria.
But some farmers hope to bridge the distance by driving their tractors and combines about 1,200 kilometres southwest in an effort to attract political attention to their plight.
“They’re just not listening to our crisis in Victoria,” said Nick Parsons, a Farmington farmer organizing the convoy to Victoria.
“It’s a real disaster up here,” said Parsons, who is organizing the Farm Crisis Committee.
For the second year in a row, many farmers will not be able to harvest their crops before winter. Cold weather and near record rainfall prevented farmers from harvesting crops last fall. This spring similar weather delayed any salvage of those crops, as well as seeding of this year’s crop.
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An almost mirror-like year has created similar problems this year for farmers who can’t get their crops off because of continued wet weather.
“A one-year weather-created anomaly has become a three-year disaster,” said Jay Hill, MP for Prince George-Peace River and the Reform party’s agriculture critic. “The seeds have been sown for a full-blown disaster for ’98.”
If farmers can’t get their crop off this year, there will be delayed seeding again next year and the cycle could continue.
Karen Goodings represented the Peace River Regional District office in a agriculture disaster meeting held recently in Richmond. She said government officials agreed the weather conditions were extreme, but refused to go the next step and declare it a disaster area.
The Cecil Lake, B.C., cattle rancher said everyone at the meeting agreed the crop insurance program must be revised to make it a viable option for grain farmers.
She said the provincial government is also looking at setting up a program similar to Alberta’s Farm Income Disaster Plan, to help farmers if their income drops below a set level.
Goodings also hoped to get endorsement for disaster assistance from delegates at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities meeting in Vancouver Oct. 20-24.
A study by the Peace River Regional District office on last year’s farming disaster recommended the provincial government make some form of ad hoc payment to prevent many farmers from declaring bankruptcy. The recommendations were made before the second poor year in a row.
Hill said it doesn’t look good for any form of assistance to the farmers in the area. Provincial and federal politicians point to the crop insurance program as a way farmers can protect against losses.
“As a reformer and small ‘c’ conservative I recognize the aversion governments have of ad hoc assistance programs,” said Hill, but he added he feels a case can be made for the area to receive disaster
assistance.
It’s not unlike the Red River flood in Manitoba or the Saguenay flood in Quebec, he said. While it may not be as dramatic, the almost daily rains are a “slow, insidious type of disaster” with the same effect.
“It’s like an avalanche ready to bury farmers on no fault of their own.”
Need provincial input
Hill said he’s had positive response from federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief and Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale. But both federal ministers said they are averse to jumping into the fray until they have some notice of a disaster from British Columbia’s agriculture minister, Corky Evans.
“They’ve not even had a telephone call from Corky Evans,” said Hill.
Trying to catch the attention of the provincial agriculture minister is one of the reasons the farmers are making the 10-day trip with the farm machinery on narrow roads through the mountains to the populated southern part of the province.
“Our minister of agriculture just doesn’t care about us,” said Parsons.
Calls to Evans’ office were not returned.
The farmers expect to leave Dawson Creek in early November. They don’t want to start the journey until the possibility of more harvest days has passed.
