"Yellow field" by Infomastern is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
On Saturday, the federal agriculture minister announced several changes to the AgriStability program, including an increased compensation rate from 80 per cent to 90 per cent, and the doubling of the maximum cap to $6 million. These changes were made ahead of potential turmoil caused by 100 per cent Chinese tariffs on canola oil and meal, and broad-based 25 per cent tariffs from the United States.
The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan President Bill Prybylski says the announcement is a positive step.
“He has recognized that producers are possibly going to be in for some financial hurt, and he’s made an attempt to alleviate some of those concerns. Unfortunately, we’re a little bit concerned that this is not going to be nearly enough to get producers through the spring seeding season.”
Because of this, APAS reached out to Ag. Minister Kody Blois in an effort to come up with some short-term solutions. APAS suggests that the advance payments program be immediately increased to $350,000 and to assess if AgriInvest can be used to allow farmers to access capital.
“As the Minister explained, he’s only in the office up until yesterday, so he was unable to implement some of the changes that we had suggested.”
With the hands-on Minister Blois tied at the moment, Prybylski says the ball is in the provincial government’s court now.
“We would urge the provincial government to approve the changes as quickly as possible and commit to funding the program as needed going forward.”
Although the AgriStability compensation rate would be increasing, the trigger to be eligible for the funding remains the same, so no additional producers will be deemed eligible for this benefit. And even if some farmers do qualify for AgriStability funding, they won’t receive the money until next year.
“There were some changes made that would allow for an interim payment, which may get money to producers before the normal scheduling, but certainly it’s not going to be anywhere as near soon enough to help some producers get the crop into the ground this spring.”
Prybylski hopes the government will step up with some financial support for producers, although he admits the tariff situation is still quite uncertain.
“There’s a whole lot of uncertainty out there, so to expect the government to be able to design a program to help producers, when we really don’t know what the needs are, would be somewhat unrealistic.”
However, he adds that in the past, the government has stepped up with cash for other types of producers across Canada.
“Producers in Eastern Canada, for example, when there were tariffs placed on Russian fertilizer coming into the country, there was cash to help producers manage their fertilizer inputs. There was cash for dairy producers when the CUSMA negotiations allowed for some imports of dairy products. So, we would hope that the same type of consideration would be given to canola producers.”
During Question Period in the Legislature today, the Saskatchewan NDP called on the province to implement the AgriStability changes and ultimately support struggling farmers.
A release from the NDP says the Sask. Party’s Agriculture Minister refused to answer their call to action.
NDP Leader Carla Beck says “Producers are suffering losses now — they need action now. Why won’t the Minister commit to helping farmers when they need it most?”
