BRUNKILD, Man. – Squeezed between higher costs and lower grain prices, some Manitoba farmers are fondly remembering yesterday’s safety nets and worrying about programs of the future.
A group of about 25 farmers met here last week with crop insurance officials to talk about their concerns.
Ian Forrester, a farmer from Emerson, Man. and member of the Keystone Agricultural Producers lobby group, helped organize the meeting. He said the group wants to get opinions from the grassroots on the focus of its lobby.
An agreement on safety net funding expires at the end of 1998 and farmers want to be ready to negotiate with governments on new programs.
Read Also
Farmers urged to be grain-safe this fall
Working around grain bins comes with risk, from farmers falling to drowning in grain: Experts have five tips to help avoid grain-related accidents this harvest.
Farmers at the meeting said they want help when they face a production or price disaster and would like to at least be able to insure a break-even cost.
Several said the Net Income Stabization Account program doesn’t work in disasters because it takes at least a year until farmers can get their money.
Some said they want more options for crop insurance so they can tailor the program to their needs.
Charlie Mayer, chair of the Manitoba Crop Insurance Corporation, said because there’s less government money available to farmers, they have to make tougher decisions about what they want.
“I think it will be more important than ever that we have our act together as much as we possibly can,” Mayer said, stressing farmers and the provincial government need to work together on a position.
Mayer said the federal government used to spend well over $1 billion a year on safety nets when he was a cabinet minister in the former Mulroney government.
Because of deficit cutting, Canadian farmers now have $600 million to spend on safety nets. In Manitoba, $29 million goes to NISA, $20 million to crop insurance and $19 million to other programs, part of which goes to crop insurance.
Barry Routledge, a member of Manitoba Crop Insurance Corporation’s board of directors, told farmers they need to start lobbying for continued funding for safety nets if they want to keep them.
