PEI NEEDS Farming FIX ASAP!!! INDUSTRY IN Trouble!!

More than half of P.E.I.'s livestock industry could disappear by the spring, says federal Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter.

Easter told CBC News on Thursday the economic fallout for the Island would be terrible, and the situation is much the same across Canada.

"It's financial devastation in rural Canada, in particular at the farm gate. It is happening right across Canada, from coast to coast to coast," he said.

The Malpeque MP predicted 70 to 80 per cent of hog farmers, and 50 to 60 per cent in the cow-calf sector will be gone by this spring.

"That's how serious it is. You're seeing the [farm] sales in the paper. This is an urgent crisis. Things needed to be done before Jan. 1," said Easter.

"The federal government just keeps on announcing the same old $600 million program which will virtually do nothing for the farm industry anyway. It's going to require ad hoc programming of putting actual cash into producers' pockets for the short term."

Livestock producers are being hit by growing international competition that has been strengthened recently by the rise of the Canadian dollar. The hog industry in particular has seen its exports to the U.S. decline dramatically, while U.S. imports have grown.

Easter notes Alberta and Ontario have put in more than $150 million into their livestock sectors, but he says the federal government has to come on board.

Agriculture is the engine of the economy on P.E.I., said Easter. He said there has to be change in federal policy, but he admits he's been saying that for years about both Liberal and Conservative governments, and that nothing much has changed except for the farmers, whose financial situation has deteriorated.

Adam Affleck

Charlottetown Remax Realty