SASKATOON, Sask."The New Brunswick government has slashed funding to Agriculture. In New Brunswick and across Canada, family farms are under attack. This budget seems like another attack: not the actions of a government that cares about farmers. This budget forces N.B. farmers to shoulder an unfair portion of the spending cuts necessitated by the provincial debt," said NFU N.B. Board Member Harold Culberson.

Referring to the massive cuts to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) announced in the March 28 budget, Culberson stated: "The restructuring and reallocation in the Department will result in increased costs to farmers and reduced services in key areas of N.B. agriculture. The N.B. government will make this provinces farmers less competitive in the marketplace."

The budget cuts will dramatically affect the Bon Accord Seed Farm. The government plans to sell the Farm to a private corporation and may close it in the interim. N.B. potato farmer Conrad Toner called Bon Accord "the basis of the N.B. potato seed industry." "How will this affect control of seed, the development of new varieties, and farmers costs?" asked Toner. The government also plans to privatize plant propagation, nurseries, the agriculture and dairy labs, and veterinary services.

The budget cuts will also end the governments important and progressive work on environmental and soil conservation programs. "Farmers are squeezed harder and harder, forced to produce more and more each year. We cannot keep taking from the land unless we work to put something back. The provinces conservation research programs were extremely important to the sustainability of farming and to the quality of life for all New Brunswickers," said Toner.

Toner also lamented the loss of so many qualified Department employees. Department staff will be cut by 72%from 428 employees today, to 120 by March next year. It is likely that nearly every one of the Departments crop, extension, and livestock production specialists will be terminated. "Many of these people have been working for the Department for a long time. Farmers really appreciate the work theyve done. They have been dedicated, hard working employees and I hate to them dismissed. Such deep job cuts are damaging and unnecessary," he said.

Culberson and Toner noted that the Dept of Agriculture in N.B. has given up more than any other department. Spending last year ($23 million) was just over half the level of the late 1980s and early 90s. This budget cuts that amount nearly in half again. With these cuts, N.B. government spending on agriculture, as a percentage of agricultural GDP, will fall to one of the lowest levels in the country: approximately half the national average of 14.2%.

Culberson concluded: "These cuts indicate the government of N.B. does not understand the role of agriculture in this economy and the importance of food to New Brunswickers and Canadians. These dramatic and unwarranted cuts threaten food safety, agricultural research, and the future of N.B. farmers. Given the contribution of agriculture to the economy, it is unacceptable that the Agriculture Department will receive less than 1% of the provincial budget."

For More Information:

Harold Culberson, NFU Board Member: (506) 375-6510

Conrad Toner, NFU ex-Board Member: (506) 473-2673

Darrin Qualman, Executive Secretary: (306) 652-9465