CALGARY – Alberta’s Crow Benefit Offset program for feed grains ends March 31.
To receive the benefit grain must be delivered to feed users by March 31 and they have until Aug. 31 to submit claims.
The program was set up in September 1985 to balance price distortions created by the method of paying the Western Grain Transportation Act (WGTA) subsidy to the railways. The offset program started at $21 a tonne, dropped to $13 and was reduced to $10 in 1989. It was costing the government more than $44 million a year.
Agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski said the decision to drop the program came after the signing of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. New world trade rules will likely call for a substantial reduction in the payout.
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The minister told the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association annual meeting that the province will not monitor how much feed is purchased before the subsidy ends.
“We can’t tell if what you’re buying is inventory or whether you’re feeding it. We’re not going to have people running out there to check whether you’re buying it for inventory or feed,” said Paszkowski.
Drive up price
The cattle feeders’ past-president Lance Carnine said in an interview that feeders will have to be careful not to drive up the price of barley by $10 if they rush out to take advantage of the subsidy.
He’s also concerned that the province is giving up the program too soon. Alberta’s government favors a pay-the-producer scheme and may have thrown away a tool to pressure Ottawa to get rid of the WGTA altogether, he said.
The cattle feeders favor abolition of the grain transport subsidy as well as an end to all government-funded farm safety nets.
Frank Dangel, a director with the British Columbia Cattle Feeders Association, said dropping the program was welcome news for his group.
The two provinces have been at odds in the past with B.C. feeders claiming Alberta had unfair advantages with programs like this.
