NFU DIRECTOR REGION 8 |SEXSMITH
Alberta farmers are facing severe weather circumstances. In southern Alberta, they faced excessive moisture. In the Alberta and B. C. Peace region farmers are feeling the effects of a drought that is not three years in the making as reported, but has actually gone on for close to 12 years.
There has been a steady decline in livestock numbers since 2003. If you look at sale catalogues in the region they are as thick as a phone book and the majority are cattle operations. If this trend continues there will only be very large operations and very small farmers with nothing in between.
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Last year I sold a third of my cows plus all of my calves. If it wasn’t for a neighbour who let me bale his straw I would have had to exit the cattle business. This year I will be forced to sell additional cows and the calf crop with no replacements. I also have no ewes left and only a handful of horses remain, and with the new regulations it is difficult to market them.
In talking with cattle buyers and auction markets, my understanding is that in the Alberta and B. C. Peace region, the estimates are that 30 per cent of the cattle are gone and the land sold.
One month of feed
The relief package announced by the federal government is a joke, at $50 per head for last year’s fed cattle. If I was eligible and I am not, it would have netted me $1,900. Feed was costing me $60 a day. In terms of feed costs, the announced aid package was basically one month of feed.
The affected areas need help, but it is doubtful they will receive it. We are not important to the political parties in Ottawa or Edmonton. The governing Tories, both provincial and federally, view the seats as safe. The other parties view the seats as unwinnable. So, none will do a thing. They will fiddle with gun registry and other side issues, all the while we bleed to death financially. The causes of this financial hardship is not only the drought, but severely depressed prices for livestock from a sector dominated by two players who have a captive supply of cattle as well as a captive market.
CAIS/AgriStability does not work, and never has. It is based on the assumption that you will only have one bad year, and up here we have already had 12. Therefore, I have never qualified for CAIS. Many other farmers are in the same situation. Farmers need immediate aid, set at $500 per cow and replacement stock. Furthermore, the aid needs to be immediate and certain, and a total federal initiative without provincial participation. The last package the Alberta government used forced farmers into signing onto age verification to qualify for aid.
We can continue to pretend there isn’t a problem and we can continue pretend CAIS is the catch-all, or we can act.
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Theaffectedareasneed help,butitisdoubtful theywillreceiveit.We arenotimportantto thepoliticalpartiesin OttawaorEdmonton.
