REGINA — Farmers in northeastern Saskatchewan who lost their crops under 30 centimetres of snow last September should know soon if they’ll get any federal assistance.
Several of the region’s delegates to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual convention last week met with federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale and his provincial counterpart Darrel Cunningham.
“We asked for a $15-an-acre payment,” said Gary Grisdale, reeve for the RM of Porcupine. “Anything that’s insurable isn’t covered by a state of emergency. You can insure up to 80 percent of your crop … and the $15 was over and above the 80 percent. We feel it’s fair and reasonable.”
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Goodale said he hoped to tell farmers within a couple of weeks if Ottawa could help.
Deer also a problem
Thirteen rural municipalities declared a state of emergency last fall after heavy snows first flattened crops and then kept farmers from getting on the fields. Through the winter, another problem has surfaced in the area around the Porcupine Forest, said Grisdale. Elk and deer have been eating unthreshed crops and there is no wildlife damage compensation available.
“The crops that normally are destroyed by the elk are quite likely crops that people didn’t insure, like oats and barley, because the premium went up and it just wasn’t a good idea to insure it any more. It’s a judgment call.”
Not just farmers suffer
Grisdale said the problem has expanded to include local communities. Farm suppliers in some cases have accounts receivable that are double the amount they were last year, he said.
There will “definitely” be farmers who can’t afford to put a crop in the ground this spring, he said.
Goodale said he would be exploring every possibility, but he knew of no existing program to offer immediate assistance.
“I certainly did not want to raise false hopes or expectations because a solution to this problem is not immediately obvious,” he told reporters.
Cunningham said the province has no money to give the farmers for spring seeding.
“We did do what we could last fall with crop insurance to hurry up the cheques and get the cash out and try to be reasonable about what was salvageable and what wasn’t,” he said.
