national
farmers union
national
farmers unionSASKATOON, Sask.-1000 farm families may lose their land, and possibly their farms, as their Farm Credit Corporation (F.C.C.) leases expire in November. 500 more families risk the same fate when their leases expire next year. The families turned land over to the F.C.C. in the late 1980s and early 90s when they could no longer afford the payments. These families then leased the land back from F.C.C. If these families cannot buy their land when their leases expire, F.C.C. will sell it to others.
"The lease-back program was designed with expectation that there would be good years ahead when families could buy their land back. Net farm income in 1999 (adjusted for inflation) is the lowest since 1933. It is callous and unrealistic to expect struggling farm families to purchase land under these circumstances," said NFU Women's President Shannon Storey.
The Crown Land Tenants Association, representing many of the affected farmers, has recommended a three-year extension to F.C.C. leases so that families can hold on until better times make land purchases more feasible.
"The National Farmers Union supports the Crown Land Tenants Association in its call for an extension and the NFU will pressure the federal government to grant the extension," said Storey.
The FCC announced today, in a radio interview, that it does not see a need for any extensions.
"We deplore FCC's reluctance to deal fairly with struggling farm families. For farmers facing record-low prices, rising costs, and disappearing markets, the F.C.C.'s move to terminate their leases may be the last straw," said Storey.
"Farmers did not cause the current income crisis. No one is saying that record low incomes are a result of bad management or lack of initiative. Farmers are facing a crisis not of their own making. Thus, the issue of F.C.C.'s leases is not an economic issue, but a social one. It is an issue which affects how and where hundreds of prairie families live and whether towns prosper or die," concluded Storey.
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