(OTTAWA) – Canadian farmers continue to wonder whether Canada’s agriculture ministers really recognize the depth of the farm income crisis. At the federal-provincial-territorial meeting yesterday Canada’s agriculture ministers failed to make any real commitment to delivering immediate additional aid to producers. Canadian farmers have experienced their three worst income years in recorded history, and economists are predicting a worse year to come. Without immediate aid many producers cannot afford to put crops in the ground this year.

Farmers are further wondering why the ministers chose to once again ignore a direct and unified request from industry. Despite an open letter to all the ministers, cosigned by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and Grain Growers of Canada (GGC), the ministers agreed at yesterday’s federal-provincial-territorial meeting to proceed with replacing the deposit requirement in the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program with an entrance fee.

“It’s frankly unbelievable. The ministers had a chance to remove an additional financial burden on farmers and acknowledge that farmers already cover 30 per cent of the cost of the CAIS program,” said Bob Friesen, CFA President. “They also failed to make a real bankable commitment to help farmers facing desperate financial times. Once again they put other interests ahead of the interests of the people they’re supposed to represent – farmers.”

As they approach planting season Canadian farmers are facing an economic crisis of unprecedented depth. Grain prices in 2004 were 19.4 per cent lower than 2003 and 25.3 per cent lower than 2002. From December 2003 to December 2004 the Grain price index fell 36.8 per cent. From November 2004 to November 2005 the crop price index for grains and oilseeds and horticultural products fell another 15.1 per cent. The soaring Canadian dollar has also hurt agricultural exporters. It is estimated that a $0.01 rise in the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar equals a loss of $232.7 million in export value to the US. Meanwhile escalating input costs, including the massive increases in fuel prices, have taken a bite out of producers’ bottom lines.

“Farmers have heard a lot of talk lately about how agriculture is an equal three-way partnership,” said Friesen. “But the message from this ministers’ meeting is clear: farmers are still the junior partner. Ministers and bureaucrats decide, and they tell us how it will be.”

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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.