No holiday from pressuring governments on need for financial help.Ottawa—Farm groups are blasting the federal and provincial agriculture ministers for their failure to come up with badly-needed financial aid for grain growers.The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) said the ministers should have done better during their Dec. 17 meeting here than decide to prolong discussions on reforms to the Business Risk Management (BRM) programs for farmers.President Mary Robinson said CFA “is disappointed with the lack of clear progress towards meaningful reforms of the BRM suite and frustrated with the lack of urgency in responding to the immediate challenges confronting Canadian producers.”GGC Chairman Jeff Nielsen said, “Despite all of these pressing challenges facing farmers across the country, the agriculture ministers were unwilling to make any changes to the AgriStability program. This is when farmers need it most and our representatives are providing us with zero support.”At this rate, Canadian farmers can't help but feel bleak about the future, as evidenced by mental health help lines across the country reporting an 80 per cent increase in call volumes compared to previous years, he said.Robinson said a comprehensive review of BRM programs has been underway for nearly three years and was discussed at length during the ministers' summer meeting. “The continued lack of progress towards any significant program reforms leaves farmers without much-needed relief at this critical time, nor any certainty that assistance is on the way.”At the conclusion of the minister's December meeting, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said officials would continue to study BRM changes and report back to the ministers in April.Both CFA and GGC and their member organizations have made countless representations to ministers and officials about the changes needed to make the BRM programs, especially AgriStability, truly useful to producers.Farmers were smacked with a massive double-whammy of terrible crop growing and harvesting conditions and international trade disputes this year. The most prominent one is the ongoing ban on Canadian canola seed by China over fictious contamination claims.As a result, farm debt is accelerating at a frighteningly unprecedented rate and net farm incomes are projected to fall further than the 45 per cent decrease in 2018.CFA and GGC have called for years for enhanced AgriStability coverage “to ensure farmers have the financial aid they need moving forward to help manage the increasing risks they face that are beyond their control.“The fact that ministers were unable to commit to truly meaningful program reforms, while pushing this issue further down the road through further program reviews, suggests a lack of urgency and a continued disconnect between governments and the realities facing farmers. Farmers continue to see increased trade and policy-related risks exacerbate already challenging weather conditions, threatening the viability of many farms and undermining the primary agriculture sector's capacity for economic growth,” Robinson said.Nielsen said GGC members won't accept the ministers' decision and will keep calling for options to provide farmers with immediate support. The reality is that Canadian farmers need support from the government when adversely impacted by trade, political and environmental forces beyond our control. The reality is that currently; we are not getting any essential support.“There is a crisis facing farmers across the country,” he said. “Our representatives should be trying much harder to fix this crisis and support Canadians whose livelihood is at stake.”The current BRM programs are “incapable of meeting the majority of Canadian farmers' needs. Changes made to AgriStability in 2013 have resulted in a program that is unresponsive and inadequate. Farmers are dealing with challenges—the majority of which are well beyond their control—in isolation.”Robinson said farm groups have “clearly identified that a return to AgriStability coverage at 85 per cent without a reference margin limit presents a simple, interim solution that can be implemented immediately while longer-term programming changes are considered.“Additional review and consultations only further delay this much needed response, leaving farmers with the sense that their governments are not grasping the critical issues at hand.”She said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the provincial premiers must “ensure agriculture Ministers have the flexibility needed to provide this critical assistance.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.