Time for Western Premiers to “Do The Right Thing” Regarding Agristability

Swift Current, SK—The National Farmers Union (NFU) is urging the western conservative premiers in Saskatchewan and Alberta to put aside the political posturing and “do the right thing” in order to get crucially needed aid to drought-stricken farmers. The NFU is urging the premiers to accept federal offers to increase coverage within the AgriStability program and make it more widely accessible.

“The lack of moisture has combined with higher-than-average temperatures to put many farmers and ranchers in a desperate situation,” says Stewart Wells, farmer and NFU Vice President. He explained that the Federal government has offered to increase money available through the AgriStability program—raising the compensation rate from 70 percent to 80. A key stumbling block for some provinces is contributing their share of federal-provincial funding.  In addition to increased coverage, the Federal Government is still open to changes to allow late enrollment in the program.

Wells concluded: “We need to enable more farmers to benefit from these programs and we need to more fully cover the staggering losses caused by heat and drought. It is merely political posturing which is holding the western premiers back, and their inaction comes at the expense of the farmers and ranchers in their respective provinces.  It is now time to stop playing politics and do the right thing for farmers and ranchers in every province.”

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For more information, please contact:

Stewart Wells, NFU V.P. of Operations:               (306) 773-6852   toews.wells@sasktel.net

Darrin Qualman, NFU Dir. of Climate Policy:      (306) 230-9115   qualman@nfu.ca

 

Translation is funded in part by the Government of Canada.