THE CANADIAN PRESS

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HALIFAX - Two Nova Scotia politicians are asking Ottawa for assistance in helping Nova Scotian farmers whose crops have been damaged by excessive rain.

Agriculture Minister Brooke Taylor and Victoria-The Lakes MLA Keith Bain were planning to meet with federal Agriculture Department officials Sunday night.

The politicians planned to ask Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz to provide federal funding for farmers who grow lettuce, beans, corn and other produce in the Boularderie Island and Bras d'Or area of Cape Breton.

Taylor said the region has seen more than twice the rainfall than normal, which has caused 50 to 60 per cent losses to some crops and produce.

"The produce fields are just devastated," said Taylor, who acknowledged the whole province had seen heavy rainfall. "But that particular area of our province has been hit particularly hard.

"It's not just crop damage, the fields are flooded and its caused plants to die because of the lack of oxygen," he said. "There's been no opportunity to do weeding and cultivation."

Taylor said he's asking Ottawa to provide financial assistance to the farmers by implementing the AgriRecovery, a disaster relief program for producers hit by smaller natural disasters.

AgriRecovery was part of a $1.3 billion agreement between agriculture ministers in July that attempts to deal with problems facing farmers across Canada.

The program would provide money to farmers from both the federal and provincial governments.

Taylor said the meeting on Sunday evening would only set the table for an official decision later in the week.

"I'm hoping we can get the go-ahead in principle to proceed with the program and hopefully give the farmers some comfort," said Taylor. "My goal is to offset the costs as much as we can."

Taylor said getting the go-ahead from Ritz would allow individual farmland to be assessed for damage and loss.

"It's an opportunity to meet with the federal minister to see where we can go to get some assistance for the farmers," said Bain, the MLA for the region.

In mid-August, the area near Sydney in Cape Breton had already seen four times its average amount of rain.

Bain said he met with farmers in the region on Saturday after a week of soggy weather.

"They've lost crops and it's at a point now where they can't get on the fields to do anything," he said. "It's a really bad time for the farmers."