The Rural Voice, 1993-03, Page 32No money
to help
farmers in
distress,
Mayer says
1000 farmers
meet in Lucknow
to be told what
they don't want
to hear
They blockaded a highway to get
attention, then filled a hall with 1000
farmers to express their concern for
difficulties caused to farmers by the
1992 crop disaster but in the end they
were told there is no more money to
help.
Line in the Dirt, the group of
activist farmers from the border area
between Huron and Bruce Counties is
busy again, trying to draw attention
to the fact that existing farm security
programs just aren't working in the
28 THE RURAL VOICE
face of a once -in -a -century situation
like 1992, the year without summer.
They staged a tractor blockade on
Highway 21 at Amberley on
February 1 to publicize the plight of
farmers and the rally planned for
February 4. They did get attention,
both drawing a crowd of 1000 for the
meeting in Lucknow and persuading
some politicians, who had earlier
indicated they didn't think they could
attend the rally, to change their
itineraries. But at a news conference
after the rally Federal Minister of
Agriculture Charlie Mayer said there
just wasn't any money to give.
During the meeting itself Mayer
and his parliamentary assistant,
Murray Cardiff, M.P. for Huron -
Bruce, repeated several times that
they were "there to listen" to what the
farmers had to say. Meeting with the
media, however, Mr. Mayer admitted
that "It's virtually impossible to find
extra money."
Line in the Dirt leaders called for a
special payment of $60 per acre for
all annual and hay crops because of
the extraordinary conditions in 1992
that saw nearly every crop grown by
Ontario farmers damaged by the
weather.
Mayer said he knew the corn crop
had been a disaster having grown 200
acres on his Manitoba farm that he
turned the cows into because it
wasn't worth harvesting. He said he
knew there were problems with
Wingham farmer John King and
others line up to ask questions.
programs like NISA, an insurance
program for farm incomes. "The offer
is there to work with you (to reform
programs)," he said. But in the long
run, he said, the money must come
from the market, he said, and 50
cents of every dollar earned by
Canadian agriculture comes from
international trade.
Not everyone agreed with Mayer's
assertion that there was no money to
help. Lynn Lowry of Amberley went
down a list of programs such as the
investment in the Hibernia off -shore
oil project in Newfoundland to point
out government can find money when
it wants to. "We had no money but
when the Gulf War broke out we had
$1 billion next day," he said.
Line in the Dirt organizers stressed
that the entire rural economy, not just
the farming sector, is in danger.
Speaking at a press conference before
the meeting, Lowry estimated the real
loss for Ontario farmers is $1 billion
when you include crop losses not
recovered through crop insurance,
GRIP or NISA, higher feed costs for
livestock, the loss of growth in
animals because of poorer quality
feed and the additional veterinary
bills because of illness caused by the
poor quality feed. One dollar
generated by farmers puts 10 dollars
into the economy in buying supplies,