(Submitted photo/Ministry of Agriculture)

By Alice McFarlane

AgriStability Proposal

Agriculture ministers fail to reach agreement on AgriStability proposal

Mar 25, 2021 | 4:00 PM

MELFORT — Federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers have agreed to remove the AgriStability reference margin limit and make the changes retroactive to 2020.

But the ministers could not reach consensus on Agriculture and Agri-Food minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s proposal to improve payment rates.

Saskatchewan Agriculture minister David Marit said he could not support the proposal to change the compensation rate from 70 to 80 per cent. It was just too expensive.

“It all comes down to cost,” Marit said. “I had cabinet approval on the reference margin limit and that’s going to have a huge impact. This isn’t a one-year deal, this is a three-year deal. It could have an impact on the balance sheet for the province.”

Marit said he hopes to there will be increased uptake in AgriStability with the elimination of the reference margin limit. Estimated cost to the province on a yearly basis is roughly $20 million.

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The cost structure of a 60/40 split between the federal government and the provinces will stay the same.

He added if there is the same interest in the compensation package, the cost to the provincial coffers would be an additional $10 million.

“It obviously has a huge impact on the fiscal capacity of Saskatchewan, far greater than any other jurisdiction in Canada,” Marit said.

Marit said he discussed the proposed changes with stakeholders and farm groups and the message was clear. Changes to the reference margin limit was the biggest concern.

The pandemic has put additional strain on finances. Marit said the entire cabinet has a responsibility to watch its spending.

The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) said it was extremely disappointed the ministers could not reach consensus on the proposal to improve payment rates.

CPC chair Rick Bergmann said its membership has faced extreme price fluctuations, border closures, and processing plant shutdowns over the last year.

“We know AgriStability negotiations are not easy but removing the reference margin limit does very little for pork producers,” Bergmann said. “We expected that, in these difficult times, the prairie provincial ministers would have considered the challenges faced by pork producers.”

Bergmann said he had hoped the provincial ministers would support the proposal of raising the program’s payment rate from 70 to 80 per cent.

It was also announced that the enrolment deadline of Apr. 30 would be extended to Jun. 30.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW