Farm Income to Drop By 55% in 2010
NDP Leader and Agriculture critic Dwain Lingenfelter admonished the Wall Government today for cutting almost $100 million from agriculture at a time when the federal government has projected farm income to drop by 55 per cent in 2010.
Lingenfelter said that farmers are facing a sharp drop in their income as the result of lower grain prices. Lingenfelter said that many factors have the potential to hurt producers’ bottom line, citing climbing interest rates and bulk diesel fuel prices which have gone up by 24 per cent since May 2009 by almost 15 cents per litre.
“Minister Bjornerud cut nearly $100 million from agriculture’s budget, most of which came out of risk management programs such as AgriStability and Crop Insurance,” said Lingenfelter. “The Minister claimed that the agriculture industry wouldn’t need the money, yet Agriculture Canada announced their 2010 projections for farm income in 2010 and are forecasting a 55 per cent drop in farm net income. That’s a huge hit for any family.”
“You can’t blame a farmer for trying to find the silver lining when the federal government has forecasted a tough season ahead, but you can certainly fault an incompetent agriculture Minister for cutting funding from risk management programs when farmers might need it the most,” said Lingenfelter.
Lingenfelter argued that farmers will have a harder time making ends meet when the price of grain commodities have taken a hit. Lingenfelter noted that freight rates are going up at the same time as the price of red spring wheat dropped by 53 per cent per bushel and durum fell by 58 per cent per bushel since December 2009.
“As farmers across the province are just getting their crop in, we are certainly hoping the federal government’s forecast is inaccurate. What concerns me as a farmer is that if my net income is projected to drop by 55 per cent and my input costs are rising while the price of commodities is decreasing – I would want to know that programs like AgriStability and Crop Insurance would kick in to help,” said Lingenfelter. “The problem is it’s with these very programs where Minister Bjornerud took nearly $100 million from agriculture’s budget. Will the money be available to farmers when they need it the most? These are important questions that I think farmers across the province will expect the Minister to answer.”
Lingenfelter said that farmers are facing a sharp drop in their income as the result of lower grain prices. Lingenfelter said that many factors have the potential to hurt producers’ bottom line, citing climbing interest rates and bulk diesel fuel prices which have gone up by 24 per cent since May 2009 by almost 15 cents per litre.
“Minister Bjornerud cut nearly $100 million from agriculture’s budget, most of which came out of risk management programs such as AgriStability and Crop Insurance,” said Lingenfelter. “The Minister claimed that the agriculture industry wouldn’t need the money, yet Agriculture Canada announced their 2010 projections for farm income in 2010 and are forecasting a 55 per cent drop in farm net income. That’s a huge hit for any family.”
“You can’t blame a farmer for trying to find the silver lining when the federal government has forecasted a tough season ahead, but you can certainly fault an incompetent agriculture Minister for cutting funding from risk management programs when farmers might need it the most,” said Lingenfelter.
Lingenfelter argued that farmers will have a harder time making ends meet when the price of grain commodities have taken a hit. Lingenfelter noted that freight rates are going up at the same time as the price of red spring wheat dropped by 53 per cent per bushel and durum fell by 58 per cent per bushel since December 2009.
“As farmers across the province are just getting their crop in, we are certainly hoping the federal government’s forecast is inaccurate. What concerns me as a farmer is that if my net income is projected to drop by 55 per cent and my input costs are rising while the price of commodities is decreasing – I would want to know that programs like AgriStability and Crop Insurance would kick in to help,” said Lingenfelter. “The problem is it’s with these very programs where Minister Bjornerud took nearly $100 million from agriculture’s budget. Will the money be available to farmers when they need it the most? These are important questions that I think farmers across the province will expect the Minister to answer.”
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