Farmers travelling in a tractor convoy blocked traffic in downtown Toronto before converging outside Ontario's legislature on Wednesday to demand greater government aid for their ailing industry.

Although turnout fell far short of the 7,000 people forecast by organizers, the protest still drew thousands of farmers from across the province. They waved signs sporting slogans such as "Farmers Feed Cities" as they listened to speeches on the assembly's steps.

Organizers said the industry has been hard hit by new regulations, the fallout from mad cow disease on the cattle industry, record low prices for grain and oilseed, and rising energy costs.

Farmers rally outside the Ontario legislature in Toronto on Wednesday.

"There's a huge financial crisis across all of agriculture," said Neil Currie, general manager of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

"It's really unprecedented in anybody's lifetime."

The protest organizers warned that if the province doesn't act quickly with a cash infusion of $300 million, spring planting will be affected and a lot of rural communities will suffer.

Greg DeVries, chair of the Ontario Soybean Growers Marketing Board, said Premier Dalton McGuinty's government doesn't give the agricultural sector its due as the province's second largest industry.

DeVries, who farms in Dresden, said Ontario's grains and oil seeds crops alone are worth $2 billion annually, but the sector is struggling after a number of poor crops and a price collapse last summer.

Currie also highlighted another sector's problems, saying tobacco farming is shrinking and farmers are still awaiting $50 million in promised transitional funding.

Farm problems are Canada-wide: McGuinty

McGuinty acknowledged that farmers are having a "tough time," but said the problems have hit the agricultural sector across Canada and they can't be solved by the province alone.

"Let's face it, this is a national issue facing farmers from coast to coast," he said.

The premier, who was in Oshawa east of Toronto, blamed the farmers' troubles on the U.S. border closure to Canadian beef over mad cow disease, as well as to falling commodity prices around the world.

He promised Ontario will try to help farmers but appealed to the federal government for help in coming up with "a package of support."