REGINA – Saskatchewan’s Liberal opposition say the NDP government should help farmers struggling with the late, damp harvest.
Agriculture critic Harvey McLane, who farms near Liberty, said the government should have a contingency aid plan in place. He said the least the province can do is provide natural gas for grain dryers at cost.
“They can facilitate, in communities, some grain drying systems with natural gas as the heater,” McLane explained. “Most communities have stations near towns that could supply enough gas to run these grain dryers. (The government) could pass the natural gas on at what they’re paying for it or even subsidize it if they want.”
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Agriculture minister Eric Upshall said people who request natural gas will have to pay for it and people who run commercial drying operations should foot the bill.
He said the government is assisting farmers in other ways. He cited an expanded feed grain and forage listing service which now includes custom harvesters and dryers.
The listing service can be reached at 1-800-667-7564, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and copies are available at rural service centres.
McLane also said the province should be talking to Ottawa.
“I have talked to the federal government, asking them … if they’re willing to issue some cash advances if a farmer’s crop has to stay in the field,” McLane said, adding the response was favorable.
Upshall said if McLane is looking for an ad hoc payment from the province, it “isn’t on.”
Such payments would only be considered if there was a “total wipeout of the whole province,” he said.
Instead, farmers should participate in crop insurance.
“We’re changing crop insurance right now, trying to make it better,” Upshall said. “It’s going to be the program that helps in years to come.”
The announcement of the 1997 crop insurance program is expected in late November, crop insurance corporation officials said.
