Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud is not ruling out additional help for farmers who are unable to seed this spring.However, he said he can’t say what form that help might take or how much it would be.NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter called on the provincial and federal governments last week to provide $100 per acre for farmers who can’t seed because of this year’s record spring rain.He suggested five million acres in the province could remain unseeded and called it a financial disaster for farm families who have already invested in seed, fertilizer, chemical and fuel.“This is money that cannot be recovered and many estimates put these pre-seeding and seeding expenses up to $200 per acre,” Lingenfelter said.“The Wall and Harper governments cannot duck responsibility for this crisis.”Bjornerud said June 11 he had already spoken to federal minister Gerry Ritz to apprise him of the situation.He said an airplane view of that region last week was a wake-up call. He was further distressed to learn that the area received another 100 milli-metres of rain between June 7and 11.On June 14, Bjornerud, other MLAs and rural municipal leaders toured the northeastern municipalities that are coping with excess water.Bjornerud said the province would expedite payments under Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp.’s unseeded acreage program after the June 25 deadline and he also hoped interim AgriStability payments could be made.About 40 rural municipalities have declared agricultural disasters, which doesn’t trigger funding but highlights the situation.
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