The need for better and more effective farm programs is shown by the release of farm income figures by Statistics Canada, said Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Brenda Bakken.

The net farm income for Saskatchewan producers fell to a negative $30 million in 2002, and farm cash receipts are down by another 6.5 per cent for the first nine months of 2003, she said.

According to StatsCan, the revised figures for net cash income shows a drop for all Canadian farmers of 11 per cent in 2002 in the wake of back-to-back droughts. The trend didn't improve in January to September of this year, as farm cash receipts fell to their lowest nine-month level in three years, mostly due to fallout from the BSE crisis which has rocked the cattle industry.

In their figures, StatsCan's use of farm cash receipts are the gross revenue of farm businesses before expenses are paid.

The Sask. Party MLA says this is proof that both the provincial and federal levels of government need to be doing more for farmers.

"The programs developed by the federal Liberals and the provincial NDP have not addressed the drought last year and the BSE crisis this year, and falling commodity prices this year. As a result, producers are actually working for less than nothing," said Bakken.

The receipts of farmers in the first nine months of this year were down 4.5 per cent from last year, and record payouts from farm programs were not enough to offset declines in livestock and crop receipts, says StatsCan. For Saskatchewan, cash receipts were down by 6.5 per cent, and receipts in the period from July to September was down by 14 per cent from the same period last year.

To show some of the impact of the BSE crisis, StatsCan says livestock revenues dropped 12.6 per cent, the biggest decline over nine months in more than a decade. More specific to cattle, cattle receipts declined by 36.7 per cent between January and September of this year, and revenue for calves dropped by 38.1 per cent. Hog farmers, on the other hand, saw receipts up 3.3 per cent, but prices were down by 3.5 per cent below the five-year average, as a record number of hogs were shipped to market.

For grain producers, crop receipts totalled $9.7 billion for all of Canada, which is 4.3 per cent below the five-year average.

An indicator of how bad things were getting is that program payouts shattered previous records by paying out $3 billion in the first nine months of 2003, almost $400 million more than the previous record set in 1988. This is for the combined effect of the U.S. border closure from the BSE crisis, crop insurance payouts and NISA withdrawals which reached $539 million.

In spite of these payouts, the loss of income by Saskatchewan farmers shows much more needs to be done, said Bakken.

"Obviously when a disaster hits and Saskatchewan farmers really need help the most, the support just isn't there. It's up to Ottawa to develop better farm support programs, and it's up to the provincial government to show some leadership in working with the federal government to make sure this happens. Both levels of government have failed Saskatchewan farmers," she said.