YORKTON, Sask. — Saskatchewan NDP deputy leader Vicki Mowat is urging the provincial government to provide immediate financial relief for producers facing harvest delays, rising input costs and deteriorating crop quality, saying farmers in the Yorkton region are under significant pressure.
Speaking in Yorkton on Sept. 25, Mowat outlined a five-point emergency relief plan recently unveiled by NDP Leader Carla Beck and her team and called on the Sask. Party government to implement the measures immediately.
"We're here in Yorkton today because farmers across the region are facing an incredibly difficult harvest and they need immediate relief," Mowat said.
The proposal comes as wet weather continues to hamper harvest operations across Saskatchewan. According to the province's latest crop report, only 32 per cent of the provincial crop has been harvested, well below the five-year average of 71 per cent. In east-central Saskatchewan, harvest progress stood at 29 per cent as of Thursday.
Mowat said producers are grappling with delayed harvests, crop-quality concerns, high fuel prices and trade uncertainty.
"Farmers are doing everything they can to get their crops off, but they can't control the weather and they can't simply absorb every additional cost that comes with a difficult harvest," she said.
Mowat also criticized the provincial government's response to the proposal.
"Earlier this week, the province's agriculture minister rejected our proposal, saying that he expected harvest to pick up," she said. "Farmers need help with the costs they're facing right now."
The NDP plan includes a temporary 12-cent-per-litre rebate on eligible farm diesel purchases between Aug. 1 and Dec. 31, along with the elimination of the province's three-cent-per-litre fuel tax. The party is also proposing a 15 per cent rebate on propane, natural gas and electricity used for grain drying and aeration during the same period.
"For farmers dealing with a wet harvest, those additional drying costs can be substantial," Mowat said.
The remaining measures focus on improving access to existing federal support programs. The NDP is calling for Saskatchewan to request an increase in interim AgriStability payments from 75 per cent to 90 per cent of estimated final benefits, seek targeted AgriStability advances for producers facing significant production or quality losses and ask Ottawa to expand the $500,000 interest-free Advance Payments Program to all eligible commodities in 2026.
Mowat said the package is intended to address rising harvest costs and growing cash-flow challenges.
She said the NDP has heard from producers and agricultural organizations across Saskatchewan, including in the Yorkton area, about the financial strain created by the current harvest conditions.
"We know that diesel is costing roughly two times as much as it did in previous years. Farmers simply don't have the cash flow right now to deal with these rising costs in the face of trade uncertainty," Mowat said.
The NDP says the proposed fuel and grain-drying rebates would be subject to reasonable per-operation caps, with eligibility criteria developed in consultation with agricultural organizations.
Beyond the emergency measures, the party is renewing calls for a review of rail transportation costs through the Canadian Transportation Agency, action on anti-competitive practices in the meat-processing sector and greater transparency throughout the agricultural supply chain.
Mowat said those issues are particularly important in the Yorkton region, where farming, transportation and agricultural processing are closely linked.
"Yorkton's agricultural economy depends on strong farms, reliable transportation and access to markets," she said.
Despite the challenges, Mowat praised producers for persevering through difficult conditions.
"Our farmers have taken the risks, done the work and continued producing at a world-class level throughout an extraordinarily difficult season," she said. "They need practical support to get through it."
The Saskatchewan government has not indicated it has plans to adopt the NDP's proposed relief package.
SaskToday reached out to Agriculture Minister David Marit for comment but had not received a response by publication time.
