Ontario Farm Subsidy Too Small

OTTAWA - Mar 7/06 - SNS -- Ontario farmers are upset with the latest subsidy they will receive from the federal and provincial governments, saying it amounts to just CDN $16 per acre, when their losses are closer to $102.

"This year Ontario grain and oilseed farmers lost more than $500 million," says Peter Tuinema, Chair of the Ontario Grain and Oilseed Safety Net Committee.

After more than a year of lobbying for a long-term price insurance program to help them compete with heavily-subsidized farmers in the US and DU, grain and oilseed farmers are outraged that their proposal for the Risk Management Program (RMP) was ignored by the McGuinty government.

Last spring Ontario grain and oilseed farmers unveiled RMP, a proposed price insurance program created by farmers and modeled on programs in Quebec, Alberta, and the US that would require investment from the federal and provincial governments as well as premiums paid by farmers.

"RMP is a responsible program to take to taxpayers because it puts the onus on the farmers as well as the government," says Greg Devries, Chair of Ontario Soybean Growers. "We've spent the better part of a year telling our government that ad-hoc, emergency payments don't help us in the long term and an investment in RMP will help us make business planning decisions that we can take to the bank."

Under the traditional 60/40 Federal and Provincial funding split, growers require $300 million from the Federal government and $200 million from the Provincial government to fund RMP for the current 2005-06 crop year. This year is an exceptionally bad year - analysis shows that in more normal years, RMP would require only $205 million from the Federal government and $137 million from the Province.

"That's what we find so frustrating," says Eadie. "Farmers in Ontario are losing their businesses. They can't go on growing cheap food waiting for the government to do what's right. It's time for our Provincial government to show leadership and invest in our domestic food supply and rural communities. We're tired of being ignored and we'll fight right up until the next election in 2007."