"Flooded out farmers are not receiving the $25 per acre promised by the Ag Minister"

"My office has received a number of calls from farmers who were expecting to get some financial support to help with the natural disaster this spring. Instead they find out the government has rigged the program so farmers will not receive the compensation they had expected," stated Breitkreuz.

Here is how the program works:

• Farmer John has 1000 acres of land. This spring he was unable to seed 500 acres due to the natural disaster.
• Farmer John thinks he is entitled to 500 acres x $25 per acre = $12,500
• Farmer John first of all has a 5% deductible to account for land that can never be seeded, like sloughs and treed areas. 500 x 5% = 25 acres not eligible
• Farmer John has his four-year summer fallow amount averaged. This works out to 200 acres. That 200 acres is then taken away from his 500 unseeded acres.
• If Farmer John has any outstanding lines of credit with Crop Insurance, that amount is also taken away from his payment.
• 500 unseeded acres – 200 summer fallow average = 300 acres – 5% deductible =275 acres that qualify for compensation.
• Farmer John actually receives: 275 x $25 per acre = $6,875.00

For Vanclief to say that he is awarding a $25 per acre payment to flooded out farmers is a farce. Our example shows that instead of receiving $25 per acre for his 500 unseeded acres, the producer only receives $13.75 per unseeded acre.

"This is another example of the government looking for ways to beat the farmer out of money that was promised. Vanclief did it with AIDA and is doing it now with the compensation for flooded out producers," exclaimed Breitkreuz.

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