OTTAWA (Staff) – Farmers soon will be facing higher costs if they want to be part of safety net programs like crop insurance, a senior government official said last week.
Assistant deputy agriculture minister Frank Claydon told a Commons committee there is a plan to add a $100 fee to crop insurance next year.
There will be an additional fee of between $30 and $45 for taking out a Net Income Insurance Account.
Claydon told Reform MP Allan Kerpan it will help the government cover administration costs.
But if arrangements can be made to reduce those costs, the government would be happy to reduce the fees, he said.
“If we can bring the costs down, then we can make the fees smaller,” he said. “And we want to do that.”
Kerpan said a problem in Saskatchewan right now is that many farmers find crop insurance premiums too high.
The new fees beginning in 1996-97 will make it even more difficult for farmers to buy protection, he said.
