Dear Editor:
It is apparent by his recent comments in the March 16 edition of Yorkton This Week that NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter does not understand Crop Insurance, agriculture or rural Saskatchewan.
The 2011 Crop Insurance Program includes a record provincial budget, record coverage levels and record funding for unseeded acres. Higher coverage levels are based on higher forecasted grain prices, which is good news for our entire agriculture industry.
Our Saskatchewan Party Government recognizes the potential for another wet Spring in Saskatchewan. That is why we increased the Unseeded Acreage Benefit from $50 to $70 per eligible acre. We have also revised the seeding intensity calculation so all unseeded acres from 2010 will not affect producers' seeding intensity in 2011. This will increase the benefits for producers affected by excess moisture.
Last July, in partnership with the federal government, we also introduced the largest one-time provincial agricultural disaster response in Saskatchewan's history. Through the Excess Moisture Program (EMP), we made $360 million available to Saskatchewan farmers with flooded crop land. Over $700 million of support has been provided to Saskatchewan producers through Crop Insurance and EMP claims from 2010.
The NDP are quick to forget their own record on Crop Insurance, which includes twice cutting Spot Loss Hail, increasing premiums after disaster years, and providing no support for flooded acres in 2005 and 2007, despite having the opportunity to cost-share in a federal program in these years. In 2003, the NDP increased Crop Insurance premiums by over 80 per cent, while coverage increased by less than 10 per cent.
Under the Saskatchewan Party, Crop Insurance coverage levels have nearly doubled since the last NDP Crop Insurance Program.
Saskatchewan farm and ranch families still remember 16 years of neglect under an NDP government that cut programs such as GRIP, closed 31 rural agriculture offices, left roads and highways to crumble, cut funding to municipalities, refused to fully fund their share of agriculture programs, closed 52 rural hospitals and shut the doors on rural schools across the province.
Considering this dismal record, rural Saskatchewan cannot afford another NDP government.
Our Saskatchewan Party Government recently introduced the second largest Agriculture budget in the province's history. In addition, we are investing record funding for highways and infrastructure, expanding extension services, and providing record revenue sharing to municipalities. Our government also implemented the largest education property tax reduction in our province's history, an issue the NDP refused to address.
After being ignored for 16 years by the previous NDP government, we are working hard to address the needs of farmers, ranchers and families in rural Saskatchewan.
Bob Bjornerud
Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture
