The Rural Voice, 2001-12, Page 16BATTLING ON
Grey and Bruce farmers, led by a
determined small farmer, fight to get a
forage crop insurance plan that works
Story and photo by Keith Roulston
Harriet Ellicott prepares to feed hay to her
horses. Though a small farmer, she joined
with dozens of her neighbours to battle
Agricorp when claims for 1999 drought
losses were rejected.
12 THE RURAL VOICE
For years farmers have been complaining about the
inadequacy of the crop insurance program for
forages, but probably nothing short of a Royal
Commission could have shone as much light on the
program's deficiencies as the efforts of a group of farmers
from Grey and Bruce counties led by an indomitable
woman who won't take a simple no for an answer.
The late '90s were a tough time for farmers in Grey and
Bruce Counties where large amounts of acreage are given
over to pasture for cattle and sheep as well as hay for
winter feeding.
The year 1998 had been a disaster for farmers across the
two counties. In northern parts of the area less than one
inch of rain fell between mid-May and late July.
Significant rainfalls didn't arrive until it was too late for
crops.
For some in the two counties, it was the second year in a
row of drought, compounding the problem. Cattle
producers were especially hard hit. With no hay, some were
forced to sell their livestock, including breeding herds.
A concerted effort was made to get financial support for
hard-hit farmers. Bruce County Cattlemen, led by Bill
Davis, began to rally support. A drought relief committee
was set up with Allan Smith, past president of the Bruce -
County Federation of Agriculture among the leaders. All
municipalities in the two counties declared themselves
disaster areas in an attempt to get government support.
Farmers found little sympathy from government,
however. (Davis later expressed bitterness toward the
provincial government for turning its back and said letters
received from farmers who had completed surveys on the
effects of the drought on their farms were sad enough to
make him cry.) They were told the crop insurance program
couldn't be undermined by paying people who hadn't
bothered to buy insurance. Farmers argued the reason only
about 25 farmers in each of the counties took out forage
crop insurance was because it was such a muddled program
it wasn't worth buying. In 1998, however, the program
actually worked for those who had bought it.
After the government's response to the tragedy, in the
spring of 1999 there was renewed interest in forage crop
insurance in Bruce and Grey. Gertie Blake, OFA field
representative for Grey -Bruce estimates the number of
people taking forage insurance that year quadrupled over
the previous year.
Among those applying was Harriet Ellicott, who farms
near Keady. She'd moved to the 50 -acre farm in 1989-90 to
raise horses, remodeling the old bank barn from pig pens to
horse stalls and beginning to renovate the red brick house.
Her operation included pasture for the horses and 28 acres
of hay, some of it kept for the horses but most of it sold.
She depended on the sale of the hay to help pay the bills.
She'd harvested about half her normal crop in 1998. Like
many others she decided to buy forage insurance in 1999.
As anyone knows who has been involved in her long
struggle for what she feels is fair treatment for Grey -Bruce
farmers, Ellicott is a thorough woman. She questioned her
Agricorp agent, for instance, about which weather station
would be used for the official record of precipitation and
temperature on which computer simulations are based for
crop yields. She was satisfied when he told her the
Environment Canada station at Paisley would be the base
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