Manitoba Beef Producers has released a letter urging Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger to immediately address ongoing impacts of the 2011 flood.
MBP is lobbying on behalf of beef producers who are still facing the damaging effects of flooding last year. MBP calls attention to the fact that this flooding was, at least in part, a result of government decisions.
MBP is calling for the Premier to announce immediate Forage Shortfall and Transportation Assistance programs. These two programs have been used in the past to ensure producers can feed their cattle over the fall and winter.
“Producers desperately need the Forage Shortfall and Transportation Assistance programs this year,” said Ray Armbruster, MBP president. “They have carried their operations through the effects of BSE, U.S. trade barriers and closed international markets, but without these programs they may be forced to shut down their family farm operations. We are concerned that the drought south of the border is pulling hay out of the province. Action is required before any surplus hay is gone.”
MBP also calls for the delivery of assistance that was promised to address the flood damage caused in the spring of 2011. Funds which are to be delivered by the Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) need to be sent to producers in order for their operations to remain viable.
“We have been fighting for this compensation to flow since last year,” said Armbruster. “Many producers in all parts of the province, including those around flood-affected lakes, regions in southwestern Manitoba and within the Assiniboine watershed, are waiting for these promised funds to arrive.”
MBP also asks Premier Selinger for immediate assistance for flooded producers downstream of the Shellmouth Dam in the Assiniboine Valley. Flooding caused by the release of water from the Shellmouth Dam is becoming a chronic issue with significant losses to producers and the Manitoba economy.
Without immediate action from the Government of Manitoba, MBP stresses it will be impossible for producers to plan their future operations.
