Manitoba farm leaders showed up at the provincial legislature April 9 hoping the new budget would provide help for the livestock sector.
They left disappointed.
“We were looking for some type of program that would help the cattle industry, to bridge this time of stress in our industry,” said Martin Unrau, president of the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association.
“We’re disappointed with the budget. There’s a lot of things our government is going to have to address in order to keep our industry alive and well in Manitoba.”
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The 2008 budget has no new programs to support the province’s hog and cattle farmers, who are losing money or leaving the industry. The only significant new funding for farmers is an additional $8.8 for Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. The top up to the crop insurance program was deemed necessary, given the sharp increase in grain prices.
A higher Canadian dollar and higher feed prices have convinced many mixed farmers in Manitoba to liquidate their cattle and switch to grain.
The Manitoba Pork Council estimates that 40 producers have closed their hog barns in 2008.
Despite the tough times, the only lines in the budget for livestock producers were support programs announced earlier this year.
In February Manitoba’s NDP government unveiled a $60 million loan program for hog farmers. And in March it provided $7.35 million in direct payments to cattle producers.
Critics of the budget said those programs are not enough.
“To come forward and have nothing in the budget, it’s another slap in the face for the industry,” said Progressive Conservative agriculture critic Ralph Eichler.
“Each and every week we’re losing more and more producers. We need the cash in the hands of those producers, now.”
He demanded during question period that Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk reinstate the ag committee and talk to producer groups about possible solutions to the crisis.
Wowchuk said the government has been talking to cattle and hog producers and gave them what they asked for.
“There are millions of dollars available in programs,” she told reporters.
“Pork producers came to us, they asked us for a loan program. That loan program is available for them. The cattle producers came to us and asked us for a payment …. We’ve done that.”
The government has to be careful that its support is “trade neutral,” added Wowchuk, who encouraged hog farmers to take advantage of a federal program that pays producers $225 for each sow they cull.
Producers can also take a loan from the Manitoba government, she said.
“If people are wanting to keep their animals, that is another option to look at.”
The response to the loan program has been disappointing so far, she said, which is surprising, considering hog producers asked for it.
“This is what they lobbied us for,” she said.
“Where was Manitoba Pork in communication with the producers?”
Manitoba Pork Council chair Karl Kynoch has said the province’s hog farmers cannot afford to take out another loan.
