by SUSAN MANN
Ontario Agriculture Minister Ted McMeekin has requested the federal government start the process to provide disaster relief for livestock and other farmers affected by dry weather.
Mark Cripps, McMeekin’s press secretary, says the formal request, sent by letter Monday, “triggers an assessment process to determine if additional financial support should be made available.”
The financial assistance would be part of the AgriRecovery program, one of the business risk management programs in Growing Forward, the country’s agricultural policy framework. It would be in addition to any payments farmers get as part of crop insurance, AgriStability or any other government programs. The federal government provides 60 per cent of the funding for AgriRecovery, while the province kicks in the other 40 per cent.
The process would be to determine if there’s “anything else we could possible do aside from the current suite of programs that are currently available to address what we’re seeing today, which is a very difficult situation,” Cripps says.
McMeekin was at two farms in eastern Ontario Tuesday, one in Renfrew County and one in North Gower, along with several farm leaders and municipal officials to see the drought damage first hand. Last week McMeekin toured a farm in Niagara Region. Cripps says the minister was adamant that he wanted to tour drought-stricken areas in eastern Ontario. “He made no bones about the fact that he wanted to be out here.”
Cripps says the corn they saw on Tuesday was “barely a foot off the ground and there’s whole fields where there’s not a single cob.”
Livestock farmers are particularly in need of help because pastures are dried up and yields are down in hay fields with farmers having to start feeding their stored winter feed now.
The minister also requested the federal government accelerate the identification of prescribed drought regions and that gives livestock farmers opportunities to receive more favourable tax treatment, Cripps says. Prescribed drought region identification is usually done in late September.
For farmers deciding to cull their herd because a shortage of feed, they can defer some of that revenue to a different tax year “so they don’t take the tax hit on it this year,” he says. The identification of the drought regions also means farmers coverage under AgriStability is also preserved.
Last week, the minister said it was too early to say if the drought situation in Ontario is a disaster, but Cripps says there’s a lot of stress out there and the minister thought it was important to start the assessments for AgriRecovery now. BF
Comments
I can see culling the poorer doing cattle out of a herd, but since BSE, farmers in Ontario have had to do alot to rebuild their herds. I know as a seed stock breeder it took twenty years of selective buying from western herds, and breeding to get good producing seed stock.
Now we have to sell these animals at depressed prices, all the hard work and scrimping to arrive at the quality is being thrown out the window.
Why couldn't the government supply hay from areas that weren't hit with the draught at reasonable prices, {using the normal amount of hay needed to cover these herds over the winter}amounts that would be needed to maintain these herds, so that good herds could be maintained to next year.
N Mitchell
Brechin
That's what crop insurance is for. If you don't have crop insurance (for a crop for which it's available, which it certainly is for forages), you shouldn't expect to get government assistance when you have a crop failure.
government run crop insurance for farmers is a urban myth.
farmers have lost faith a long time ago about any motion that insurance programs work for the farmer.
I agree. I was shocked to read somewhere that only about 10% of farmers who grow hay/forages in ON have taken advantage of the crop insurance available.
Most years it is probably OK, not this year. That is the gamble you take when you decide not to enroll in it.
Its not a gamble when deciding NOT to take crop insurance. If you know that the dice are loaded against you, you don't play the game.
If only 10% of the farmers are taking crop insurance its tells me that the program is a failure.
If the current program is not working what have you done to fix it? Not just to you, but to the many who grumble and complain, but don't bother to tell someone who can ACTUALLY do something about it.
Who will actually do something to help the small or medium size farms out there?
It take money to live out there in this world and if anyone thinks that you should work 7 days a week all your life and not take a holiday must be playing without a full deck.
What about the ones who has insurance every year and they seem to collect every year on something. If the year is no rain farmers should be given an helping hand, its not like poor management.
Not having crop insurance IS poor management. And BTW, from the looks of it I'm going to have less than half a crop on 1100 acres. I think a whole lot of people who've been convincing themselves that they couldn't afford insurance (but seem to have lots of money for other luxuries) are going to find out they REALLY couldn't afford NOT to have it.
I bet the ones that is saying no funds to the goverment bailout for drought ,has no drought at there farm or doesn,t farm.
There are farmers that just barely make a living and people think they can afford to buy crop insurance too, after all the other insurances they buy.
Give me a break, hope they squeal all the way home from the store that has little food for people to buy because there is very little farmers left or a couple of big companies left that controls the whole country.
The bigger guys are the ones that can afford crop insurance. I for one found it hard to get insurance and was given the run around the last few years trying to get it or see how much it costs.
Like I always said the big guy gets the worm and the smaller guy gets crapped on. Where has all the small farms gone read between the lines and you will see.
I noticed yesterday that the corn stunted from the drought is getting cobs on it. The rest that is normal has maturing cob on it. When it comes to harvesting in the fall there is going to be a big mess of immature and mature cobs to combine.
The guys who grind the cobs should have a fairly good crop .
With the drought so bad it should make it easier for the cops to find the lush marijuana pot plants growing in the corn fields.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/08/17/york-cops-go-high-to-find-grow-op-i...
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