What should governments do?

Unseeded acreage is destined to become a political football. A growing number of rural municipalities are declaring themselves agricultural disaster areas. NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter is currently touring some of the hardest hit regions. There are already calls for the federal and provincial governments to respond to this unprecedented situation, but it’s difficult to see what that response should be. If governments increase the Unseeded Acreage Payment offered through crop insurance, producers with unseeded land could end up with a better net return than producers who seeded into soggy ground. Every grain producer has large costs at this time of year. Even if you’ve been able to seed a crop, you’re at least another three or four months away from marketing any grain. At this point, producers with a large unseeded acreage shouldn’t have any greater cash flow problems than producers with all their crop seeded. The difference will come after harvest. Since the unseeded acreage problem is so widespread this spring, there’s going to be a great deal of pressure for governments to do something, but there’s a need for specific proposals that have merit. I’m Kevin Hursh.