Northern grain farmers face uncertainty heading into spring
Spring farming season is just around the corner as snow melts across the north, but farmers aren’t sure what this season will look like.
Due to rising fertilizer costs and limited supply -- because of tariffs imposed on imports from Russia, the globe's major supplier of fertilizer -- farmers are facing many uncertainties.
Brendan Byrne, the chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario, is hoping a solution can come out of this.
"We would just like to see the product let into the country, make sure that prices are fair because I know that in some cases fertilizer has already landed and now that price is skyrocketing," Byrne said.
Farmers will need government help, he added, if prices get out of control.
One farm feeling the impact is Kooch Farms in Earlton.
"The supply is going to be tighter, but I think it’s going to be OK. I’m very optimistic that we will have a good season," said Norm Kooch, the owner of Kooch Farms.
"We have adequate snow and it’s going away slowly, so we’re going to have adequate moisture to get going in the spring. If we get a good start to the crop, things will look good -- if we do get all that fertilizer we need."
While it’s cheaper to import fertilizer, Kooch said now is the time for Canada to start producing more of its own farming products.
"It should be a wake-up call to Canada to start producing more stuff ourselves," he said.
"We have the resources, we have the natural gas, we should look at things … I think most Canadian farmers would pay more if they knew it was from Canada and they knew it was long-term and sustainable."
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