Hay donation campaign struggles

by SUSAN MANN

Two Renfrew County farmers each received 15 large round hay bales Tuesday as part of the first shipment in a campaign to acquire Western Canadian hay for drought-stricken farmers in Ontario.

Glenn Buck, chairman of the Mennonite Disaster Service Ontario branch, says the farmers applied through the Hay East 2012 program to get hay and then their names were picked in a lottery-style draw on Friday. Tuesday morning the farmers picked up their hay, donated by farmers in Saskatchewan, from the Cobden fairgrounds.

Recipients are paying three cents a pound for the donated hay, Buck says, noting in a normal year that’s what they’d pay for standing hay.

Buck says the Mennonite Disaster Service has pledged $10,000 for the campaign and “it’s costing us about eight cents a pound to transport now. So if we can get three cents a pound back on it that will enable us to bring in another load for another farmer.”

So far, about 150 farmers have signed up to receive hay and they’re asking for a total of 30,000 to 35,000 bales, he says. But only 200 bales have been donated to date by farmers in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The farmers looking for donations are from across Ontario and they’re mainly dairy and beef producers, but there are also sheep and goat producers on the list.

“It’s a drop in the bucket when you look at needing 30,000 bales and only 200 pledged,” Buck says, noting rains this fall didn’t provide enough precipitation to bring back the hay in Ontario farmers’ fields.

Similarly, only a few thousand dollars in cash donations have been received. Donations are accepted at any Scotiabank branch in Canada and cheques can be made payable to Hay East 2012.

Buck says they’re still looking for both hay and cash donations. The cash is being used to subsidize the hay trucking from Western Canada.

Hay East 2012 is a partnership involving several Canadian farm organizations and the Mennonite Disaster Service. The program is a follow up to the Hay West campaign in 2002 where Eastern Canadian farmers sent hay to Western Canada to alleviate the effects of that region’s drought. Buck says during that campaign, 60,000 large square bales went west from Ontario and Quebec.

The group of Hay East organizers is talking to railway companies, CN and CP, to try and get donated rail car space “so we can bring it (the hay) much more cheaply,” Buck says. They’re also requesting the federal and provincial governments help subsidize transportation costs.

More information is at www.hayeast2012.com. BF