The Dufferin Federation of Agriculture may not have been officially involved in the grassroots protest by farmers at Queen's Park this week, but spokesperson Barb Evans hopes some farmers from Dufferin are there and that the protest will raise awareness of the issues farmers have been facing.

"I haven't heard if anyone in Dufferin is participating," Ms. Evans said. "It isn't organized by the OFA (Ontario Federation of Agriculture), but we do support it. Anything that brings attention to the plight of farmers, helps."

Farmers are facing a financial crisis across all sectors of the industry and they were asking for increase aid in the provincial budget, to be released today.

This is the second time in a year that tractors have descended on Queen's Park. In an effort to raise awareness last summer, a convoy of tractors snarled traffic along major routes into Toronto in a one-day demonstration by the OFA that converged at the provincial capital.

This time, the grassroots protest involves tractors circling Queen's Park for most of the week leading up to the budget presentation.

Local MPP and Opposition Leader John Tory met with the protesters and said that he hopes the Liberal government gets the message.

"This crisis isn't going away," Mr. Tory said. "And an occasional bandaid solution doesn't solve the problem."

Both the Progressive Conservatives and the farmers are calling for a long-term plan that will work now and in the future to stabilize things for farmers who have dealt with the high Canadian dollar, low crop prices and competition from subsidized U.S. and European imports.

Mrs. Evans believes it is time to look beyond bail-outs. "Good intentions and short-term promises don't always fix the problems."

Funds already promised still haven't made it into the farmers' hands and there is mounting concern about this year's plantings.

"Money that has been promised has been slow to get to the farmers and that is also adding to the problems," said Mr. Tory.

In the provincial legislature, Mr. Tory has kept on top of the issue by raising questions whenever he can, but he said he thinks Liberal MPPs from rural ridings have been too quiet and they need to start putting pressure on their own government.