WINNIPEG – Keith Pearn calls this summer “the pits” for farmers in Manitoba’s Assiniboine River Valley.
“We were flooded out in the spring in our valley land and many of us were dried out in the middle of the summer on our land up on top. So it’s been a rough summer.”
Pearn said he spent most of his minimal spare time cleaning up the mess left by the flood. “We’re still not finished getting this land back into shape for next year,” he said. “In fact, some of this land won’t be seeded again next year.”
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To top things off, farmers received official word last week that the provincial government has refused their request for compensation for flooded-out forages and unseeded acres.
Farmers banded together in May as the Assiniboine Valley Producers Committee to ask for compensation. They believe the extensive and lengthy flood was caused in part by mismanagement of the Shellmouth Dam on the river and drainage projects in Saskatchewan.
None of the farmers flooded this spring in western Manitoba had flood insurance.
Pearn, who chairs the committee, said the farmers want to meet again with key government ministers and the premier to talk about damages and the need to prevent a similar disaster.
“Compensation is not the only thing here on the burner,” Pearn said. “We’ve definitely got to have proper water management and we’ve got to have some kind of program so we can insure ourselves.”
Pearn added some farmers are considering legal action either against the dam operators or those involved with the Saskatchewan drainage projects. “However, we do not want to take that road unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Farmers estimate close to 25,000 acres of cropland were flooded, along with more than 8,000 acres of tame forage and 5,500 acres of native pasture.
