One constant our American friends verbalize when describing our land is referring to it as “Canada.”   For instance if you are in Michigan, a stone’s throw away from Ontario, you’ll still hear Americans talk about “Canada.”   Very rarely do you our American friends talk about Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta or British Columbia.  Canadians, I suppose, commonly refer to the land to our south as “the states”.   It simply is the nature of the beast.  So when I hear American agricultural commentators talk about “Canada”, my antenna goes up.  With Western Canada possibly having 8 to 12.5 million acres left idle this spring, some agricultural markets are reeling.  It is certainly caught the attention of many in North American farm country.

Saying it is wet in Saskatchewan has been a bit of an understatement.  I have been inundated all spring with reports of how much it is raining in Saskatchewan.  Editor after editor has chimed in about the rain in waterlogged fields.  Ditto for much of Manitoba.  Is sent the canola, oat and wheat market straight up over the last few weeks.

Of course nobody really likes this story.  It is never very good to benefit from somebody else’s misfortune even though that is very common for people producing commodities.  In fact when you are the producer who cannot get his fields planted or who loses a crop in the field relying on crop insurance is always a dog’s breakfast.  So when you see that there may be the lowest acreage planted in Western Canada in 39 years, it represents real hardship ahead for many Western Canadian producers.

Of course I always feel I’m on a bit shaky ground when commenting on Western Canadian issues as I am from, quote, one of the three other countries in Canada with a large agricultural sector.  You say what?  I’ve said it a million times there are three agricultural countries and Canada.  They are in no particular order Quebec, Ontario and Western Canada.  Each “agricultural country” is either separated by distance or culture or language and to a large extent we don’t understand each other.  Or at least that’s what many of the natives think.

So when disaster strikes like it has this spring in Western Canada, many farmers look toward the Canadian agricultural policy which was put together for those “three countries” that satisfies none of them.   Just today, Canadian agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz toured many flooded acres in Saskatchewan and said that our existing farm support programs are the best and quickest way to get money into the hands of farmers unable to plant or whose fields are underwater.  After I read that in the Calgary Herald, it made me shake my head.  In other words, translated through this Ontario farm boy, you western farmers are on your own.  I hope it dries up soon.

Yes, that is certainly a damning condemnation of present-day Canadian agricultural safety nets and disaster relief programs.  However, remember that your loyal scribe held the microphone in front of 10,000 angry farmers in April 2006 in front of the Parliament buildings pushing government to make a better policy.  What we got instead was three or four years of high commodity prices bailing the federal government out.   They ran with that and now with Western Canadian farmers wanting, any aid to help them will be close to nonexistent.  The federal government is to blame and agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is mainly responsible for that.

The unfortunate thing is it will get much more complicated in 2010 if Minister Ritz shows favour to Western Canadian needs at a time when water fills their fields.  Quebec and Ontario have their own specific demands from the federal government with regard to the 60/40 traditional funding split of Business Risk Management support programs.   The conservative government has maintained mediocrity for all and if that changes for Western Canada there will be howls all over Ontario and Quebec.  It’s never easy in this country, I don’t say I agree, I just say that is the way it is.

This terrible rain/flooding/unseeded acreage problem might also represent an opportunity for Minister Ritz and Prime Minister Harper to make some things right.  The needs are completely obvious in Western Canada right now with flooded fields and lost hopes.  If Minister Ritz thinks Agristability will help Western farmers with flooded fields maybe he might try to put lipstick on that pig.  Or maybe he might just recognize that Canadian agricultural policy is woefully unprepared for the disaster, which has unfolded this year in Western Canada.  Maybe he and the Prime Minister will finally commit to make it right.  Is just so unfortunate the calamity in Western Canadian fields may be the stimulus to get something done.