Money will soon start flowing to Manitoba farmers who were unable to seed a crop this spring due to the glut of rain.
Agriculture minister Harry Enns said that affected farmers will start receiving payments on their unseeded acreage before the end of August.
The Manitoba government will pay $50 per acre to farmers who could not seed a crop by June 25.
“We’re laying out the money and the cheques are going to start flowing any time now,” Enns said.
Curtis Clark is among those eligible for the payment. He farms with his brother and father near Lyleton, Man., one of the areas hardest hit by the heavy rains.
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The Clarks normally seed about 6,000 acres. But because of the wet weather, they could not plant a crop this year.
Curtis hopes money from the province’s unseeded acreage program will arrive later this month, the time when he would normally be harvesting a crop.
“It’ll pay the chemical bills and the cash rent and that’s about all it will do.”
Half of the $50-per-acre payment will come through an Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program advance. The province hopes Ottawa will share the balance of the cost by finding money outside existing safety nets.
Negotiations on that issue are at a standstill, Enns said. But that impasse will not delay the $50 per acre payment, he added.
Close to a million acres went unseeded in Manitoba because of spring flooding.
The province wants farmers to receive federal compensation for chemicals and fertilizer lost in the wet spring. Federal money is also needed to help affected farmers maintain unseeded fields, Enns said.
“Those million acres are in damn poor shape.”
The province’s farm disaster assistance package also offers up to $75 per acre to restore tame forage damaged by spring flooding. Producers should contact their local crop insurance office to have their field inspected before destroying the crop.
There is also compensation for pastures that were damaged or made inaccessible by the heavy rains.
Meanwhile, more than $1 million has been approved under the province’s custom seeding program for farmers who struggled with soggy soils this spring. The program, which is retroactive to June 1, offers $10 per acre to help cover the costs of land preparation and seeding.
