RED DEER, Alta. – Alberta’s farm income disaster program could be linked to a federal safety net in the future, says a federal official.
“We’re interested in that program and we want to see how it works,” said Bill Schissel of Agriculture Canada.
“I think down the road a marriage of those two programs with the disaster element when you’re completely wiped out, along with a bit of a savings plan, might be the way to go, not just in Alberta but across the country,” said Schissel. He told the Alberta Forage Council annual meeting that Ottawa and Edmonton are cost sharing the provincial disaster program.
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Alberta is opting out of the Net Stabilization Income Account and the federal government is still not sure how to handle its Alberta contribution. However, farmers won’t be shortchanged, said Schissel.
Each province decided which commodities are covered by NISA when the program was developed. The Alberta NISA excluded forage, straw, hogs, sheep, cattle, sugar beets, wild game, horses and supply-managed products.
But forage producers voted in Red Deer Dec. 9 to join NISA even if the province doesn’t participate.
“We’re not going to object to any commodity that wants to go into NISA as long as there is overwhelming support from the industry,” said Ken Moholitny, director of Alberta Agriculture’s central program support division.
No taxpayer money
Hog and sugar beet producers have indicated they are interested in contributing to a NISA account but the cattle industry overwhelmingly objects to any safety net program that is funded with taxpayer money.
“Unless you can convince cattle producers in this province that NISA is green and will not be countervailed they will not likely take the chance of going into the program and potentially having a trade problem,” said Moholitny.
The federal-provincial agreement over three years provides money for NISA, crop insurance and companion programs like Alberta’s farm income disaster program. The annual federal budget is $600 million for 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99. The province’s share is $400 million.
Alberta wants to put a greater portion of the money into the farm income disaster program. For 1995, 6,200 applicants were received for the program, of which two-thirds were from northeastern Alberta, said Moholitny.
