Saskatchewan agriculture minister Mark Wartman said the province has provided all the emergency funding it can and he is looking to Ottawa to help farmers get this year’s crop in the ground.
But he said it’s unlikely the federal government will come up with $75 per acre, an amount that has been suggested by the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
“If you do the math on that, what you find is it’s more than the whole federal agriculture budget,” Wartman told reporters.
“If you look at seeded acres, you’re looking in the neighbourhood of $2 billion plus, I think $2.6 billion and the whole federal (department’s) budget was $2.1 billion last year.”
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APAS asked both governments to come forward with an “investment” of $75 per acre to enable seeding.
“This would truly be an investment as the social and economic cost to not come to the aid of farmers with significant support at this time will be immense,” said president Ken McBride in a News release
news.
The organization said the province faces the possible collapse of the primary agriculture sector if there is no significant help provided.
It noted that Alberta and Ontario recently announced help for their farmers.
Wartman repeated the province’s position that it already provides more money per capita than any other province. The cost of the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program alone is $390 per person.
Last year, total spending by the province was $700 per person.
The province has asked Ottawa for a $200 million payment to Saskatchewan farmers to keep them from falling into a negative farm income situation.
And it points to the $53 million in property tax relief announced earlier this month by the province for farmers. The spring sitting of the legislature opened last week with an emergency debate on the farm income crisis. The provincial budget will be announced April 6.
