Farmer's looking for drought relief   Play video

OTTAWA -- The provincial agriculture minister can't put a pricetag on the economic havoc being wreaked by this summer's prolonged drought.

Ted McMeekin appeared at a farm near Ottawa Tuesday to outline relief measures he has asked the federal government to provide.

It includes seeking disaster relief cash under the federal AgriRecovery framework and also requesting the feds to accelerate tax relief for livestock producers, which would allow them to defer tax payments on a portion of their sales.

But farmers won't be the only people affected by the drought, which has worsened in the driest July on record.

Just a day earlier, Mario St. Denis had explained how he'd had to scrap plans for a new grain silo.

Expecting to lose at least half of his 300 acres of crops, the silo was a $25,000 purchase he couldn't afford.

So the economy lost out on a big buy -- as well as gigs for electricians and cement layers St. Denis would have had to hire.

"It's a chain. One feeds off the other," he said.

McMeekin said he'd be paying attention.

"People have asked us about what this (the drought) might do to prices as well," he said.

He also played up the strength of Ontario's "permanent, stable, predictable" risk management programs, contrasting them with the feverish improvisation taking place in drought-stricken areas south of the border.

Corn, soybean and wheat farmer Dwight Foster hosted the press conference, which took place in front of an enclosure housing some of the 1,400 head of cattle he feeds.

While crop insurance is helping growers, for the most affected ranchers "the programs -- I'll promise you -- they won't work for them," Foster said. "We want them to have the feed that's needed to be able to keep those cattle on their farms and in my opinion that's job one right now."

tony.spears@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @ottawasuntonys