Dear Editor:
In the last provincial budget the Sask. Party government played up an announcement that it was going to increase agricultural research investments thanks to the Growing Forward 2 agreement. On top of this there was going to be more money for Crop Insurance. The part they seemed to missed talking about was how farm support programs, like Agristablity and AgriInvest, had seen big cuts. Agristabilty supports are budgeted to be cut by close to fifty million dollars, AgriInvest another ten million. Do the math and you see that even with the extra dollars for Crop Insurance and research farmers stand to lose over thirty million dollars to these cuts. And that's just the provincial numbers.
It would be one thing to be up front and state clearly that they were cutting farms supports, but instead the realities of the situation weren't properly represented. In fact, they acted like things were better now. Farmers will get less from support programs and must pay more to cover for down years. In fact, the changes to AgriInvest will discourage farmers from saving for the future. Not only will the government contribute less, but farmers will also see the amount they can contribute reduced. I have a feeling that many farmers will be in for a rude awakening when they apply for these programs next year.
Brett Estey
Regina, Sk.
