A Lambton County mayor and Lambton Grains Committee delegate says new federal funding to secure Canada’s food supply won't do much to help area farmers.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $252 million pandemic aid package for Canada's agriculture and food industries Tuesday.
Enniskillen Township Mayor Kevin Marriott said from what he can see of the funding so far, most of the money is not going to farmers.
"To me [the announcement] is kind of mislabeled. The public sees farmers, but I see mostly food processing, which isn't farmers. There's a lot of money that's going to ensure the food processing, but it's not really farmers or agriculture. I guess part of it is going to cattle and beef farmers who cannot market their animals on time, which is probably the only real money that's actually going to farmers."
Marriott said that the government has fallen short when it comes to helping farmers and that any help from this funding for Sarnia-Lambton farmers is next to nothing.
"It's really, really disappointing. Now they did say there was more coming, so I guess we have to give them the benefit of the doubt, but let's hope I guess."
Marriott said there's a lot of hurting among farmers, including those across Lambton County.
"I guess for local farmers, the backlog in processing has made the wholesale prices much lower. In some cases there has been a 20 per cent decrease in farmgate prices from COVID-19," he said. "There seems to be a backlog of some of the greenhouse vegetables and things like even potatoes, an excess in potatoes because of the restaurants being shut down as well."
Marriott said it's hard to summarize everything farmers are going through, but said it is a wide-ranging hurt affecting a lot of different sectors.
"The fact that the money to WHO [World Health Organization] last week was three times what this is, $252 million sounds like a lot, but it's not in an industry that's one of the biggest in Canada."
Marriott said an increase in the carbon tax that took effect April 1, and the recent rail blockades across Canada have also hurt farmers.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture has suggested the industry may need $2.6 billion to survive the pandemic and return to prosperity afterwards.