Payments made under the second and final year of a federal pilot program designed to help farmers find ways to raise their income will initially be cut in half.
Gordon Andrusiak, deputy director of policy integration in Agriculture Canada’s renewal division, said farmers will receive only 50 percent of their payments at first because the program has to stay within budget.
The Canadian Farm Families Option Program was announced in July 2006. It had a budget of $550 million and was intended to help lower income farm families use business planning and skills development programs to improve their farm income.
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However, the program has been capped and some of the money redirected to other programs.
“Only Year 1 applicants are eligible for Year 2,” Andrusiak said.
More than 15,000 farmers across Canada were in the program. Not all will still be eligible for money because their income has gone up.
The maximum payment for those applicants reporting zero income was $25,000. This year the maximum is $18,000.
Participants were previously told that their payments in the second year would be cut by 25 percent to reduce their dependence on the program, Andrusiak said.
For example, a producer who received $10,000 last year could receive $7,500 this year and initially will get only $3,750. Andrusiak said this type of information was contained in the program guide and is now available on the website.
Robert Atkinson, who arrived from England four years ago to farm near Dysart, Sask., said he will get less money this year – he received the maximum and expects to again – and he’ll also get it later. Applications, accepted until Nov. 30, are just going out now and will be mailed directly to participants.
“It would have been very useful” to have the money now, he said. “There would be less pressure to sell the crop cheaply.”
Andrusiak admitted the program changes have caused delays. He couldn’t say when cheques would go out.
Participation in either a farm business assessment or skills training is a condition of receiving assistance. Some of those programs are offered through the federal department at no cost to the participants.
