“Certainly, we’ll work as quickly as we can to move forward with AgriRecovery, should it be required,” Mr. Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster, Sask.) told reporters during a press and teleconference on July 31.
With just 128.4 millimetres falling in the Ottawa area from May 1 to July 30, the area hasn’t been this dry since 1965, Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said. The average rainfall for that time is 261 millimetres.
Showers in the area on Tuesday night may affect 2012’s standings, but from May to late on July 30, this year has been the third driest on record, according to Environment Canada.
The lack of rain is hitting farmers in areas of West Quebec, and both Eastern and southern Ontario hard.
Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture Ted McMeekin officially asked the federal government for aid on July 30 through the federal government’s AgriRecovery framework. Through the AgriRecovery disaster relief program, farmers may be able to access aid money, on top of insurance, to compensate for the loss of their crops.
The federal government has 45 days, until mid-September, to decide whether the request will be granted. AgriRecovery is a joint program that is funded 40 per cent by the province and 60 per cent by the federal government. It’s given to farmers who expect to have crops that are 15 per cent smaller than average.
“AgriRecovery is intended to fill gaps in existing coverages,” said Mark Cripps, spokesperson for Mr. McMeekin.
Mr. Cripps said that the province is asking for aid now so it is prepared to deal with lower-than-normal harvests. While the drought is affecting only certain areas of Ontario, the rules for aid specify that the call for help must be province-wide.
“The minister is very concerned about this. I’m not exaggerating when he tells me he’s losing a lot of sleep over this,” said Mr. Cripps, who spoke to The Hill Times while en route with Mr. McMeekin to speak to affected farmers in Cobden, Ont.
“It’s dry, it’s really dry,” Mr. Cripps said of the local conditions.
“Farmers put their heart and soul into what they do, and even knowing that they have access to the risk management programs, it’s still heartbreaking to see a crop fail before your very eyes,” he added.
Traditional crop insurance doesn’t usually pay out until after the harvest, but under the government’s AgriStability program, farmers can apply for an advance in extreme situations, and Mr. Ritz said that people are already on the ground doing the necessary assessments.
“We’ll work as judiciously and as quickly as we can in getting those assessments done so farmers have access to the cash they need to continue moving,” he said.
Renfrew, Ont., just over an hour west of Ottawa, is one of the areas most affected by the drought, said Liberal MP Frank Valeriote (Guelph, Ont.), his party’s agriculture critic. The largely rural farming riding is held by Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, Ont.).
“Last week, when I spoke to these people, there was still some hope. I think it’s gone from hopeful last week to hopeless right now,” he said.
Mr. Valeriote compared the economic effect of the situation to the crisis in the auto sector.
“Agriculture contributes to eight per cent of our GDP, employing two-million, or one in eight [people] across Canada. It’s like the crisis in the auto industry. When you have a threat to agriculture, you have a threat to jobs, a deep threat, an immediate threat to rural economies,” he said.
“This is a destabilizing effect of the drought, and this is where the government comes in. They need to stabilize,” said Mr. Valeriote, who said he wrote a letter to Mr. Ritz calling the government to action.
Mr. Coulson said that the Ottawa area has gone “long stretches with no rain whatsoever.”
“The upper end of the Ottawa Valley is in a similar situation to what we’re seeing in Ottawa,” he said.
Mr. Cripps said that in affected areas like the Ottawa Valley’s Renfrew, Ont., and Niagara in the province’s south, where Mr. McMeekin toured last week, rocky or clayish soil has compounded the drought conditions by posing an extra challenge to plants.
Crops affected by the drought include soybeans, corn, and hay. According to information from Ontario’s Agriculture Ministry, while some dry weather is good for corn, at this point, the drought could reduce corn yields by 20 to 45 per cent. If the lack of rain continues, yield could be down by as much as 75 per cent.
Corn needs about 50 cm of water, from rain or irrigation, over the course of a season for a high yield, according to the ministry.
Mr. Ritz said that some corn crops in southern Ontario are “beyond salvation” while soybean crops would have benefited from recent rainfall in the area.
Lower yields of hay, corn, and grains due to the drought are driving feed prices up.
“We’re more concerned at this point about the livestock sector which is going to need access to feed because the pastures just aren’t there. Some of them didn’t get their first cut of hay, let alone the second or third that they’re used to,” said Mr. Ritz.
Mr. Cripps said that farmers are dipping into their winter supply of hay to feed their animals. He said that while there is still feed available on the market, the demand for it is driving prices upwards.
“They hay is not growing, and it hasn’t grown and it’s almost past the time for rain for hay,” said Conservative MP Guy Lauzon, chair of the Conservative national caucus and who represents the agricultural riding of (Stormont-Douglas-South Glengarry, Ont.).
He added that his area has been affected by the drought but is not in as bad a shape as nearby Renfrew.
Mr. Valeriote said that this is forcing some farmers to sell off their livestock so that they can also sell of their feed reserves. Some farmers also have to sell their cows because they can’t afford to feed them.
“The problem with that is that these high prices are going to likely make for lower prices later, because these high prices are going to drive farmers out by having to sell their herds, and there will no longer be purchasers for the hay. Their concern now is that hay will at some point just drop dramatically in price when there’s no purchasers,” he explained.
Mr. Valeriote added that farmers who sell off their livestock will likely turn to growing cash crops like soybeans next year for income. He said the increased supply will in turn drive those commodity prices down.
He said farmers need to see an unequivocal sign of support from Mr. Ritz in order to stay the course.
“Mr. Ritz shouldn’t be waiting 45 days. Mr. Ritz should be coming out immediately saying, ‘Folks, don’t bail on your farms,’ ” he said.
The rain has also passed over crops in West Quebec.
“These are unfortunate circumstance that have harmful affects on several types of crop,” Quebec’s Agriculture Minister, Pierre Corbeil, said in a statement July 26.
“Depending on the circumstance, we will be ready to intervene quickly,” he said in French. Mr. Corbeil noted that insured farmers will be compensated for crop damage, and that AgriStability may also be available to some farmers.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Marie-Hélène Robert, spokesperson for Quebec’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Ministry, said that there was no news as of yet as to whether the province of Quebec would also be seeking federal aid, but that the situation might change in the coming days.
Rain levels at a metrological station just north of Gatineau, Que., indicate that the area has been drier than normal, said Mr. Coulson.
Mr. Valeriote said that the increased price for feed will likely hurt dairy farmers in the area, and could raise the cost of dairy produces in future. He added that prices in supply-managed sectors like dairy are difficult to predict.
Ontario has already asked for aid for farmers this year. Early spring weather last February caused fruit trees to blossom early, only to be decimated in March when frost set in. This has destroyed much of the apple and soft fruit crop in southern Ontario.
How much aid the province’s farmers ultimately receive will be up to both Mr. Ritz and Mr. McMeekin, said Mr. Cripps, adding that the full extent of the drought damage will only be known at harvest time.
“Drought designation comes at harvest time, because we can’t really determine what the yield losses are until harvest,” he said.
Mr. Lauzon said that his farmers still hold out hope that with some rain, their crops could return a near-average yield.
As the situation in Ontario is undecided, so is the state of Canada’s insurance and aid program for farmers. The current group of insurance and disaster relief programs, called Growing Forward, is set to expire in 2013. It will be replaced by Growing Forward 2, which is currently under negotiation between the federal government and the provinces and territories.
Under the proposed changes, aid could be reduced by as much as $2-billion, said Mr. Valeriote and Mr. Cripps.
Agriculture Canada Department spokesperson Patrick Girard said that the government is examining the role of the AgriStability program in particular.
“It is one of the programs…that generates the most negative response from farmers,” he said.
He added that a new five-year agricultural agreement will be signed between the two levels of government at a meeting in the Yukon this September, when final decisions on funding will be announced.
Mr. Cripps said that Ontario is “very concerned” about the proposed changes to the program, and that AgriStability is a “very popular program in Ontario” due to the diversity of crops grown in the province.
“Right now we’re sort of in a state of flux,” said Mr. Cripps.
While it’s too late for many crops, others may be salvageable with a bit of rain, said Mr. Lauzon.
He said: “What we really need, ideally is a good long rain. As the farmers call them, we need a soaker.”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Jessica Bruno
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