MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Saskatchewan cow-calf producers want a national cattle price insurance program so they are not at a disadvantage to their Alberta counterparts.A resolution passed at the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association annual meeting said the organization supports an insurance program that is actuarially sound, effective and affordable and includes fed cattle, feeder cattle and calves.The motion noted that American producers have access to the futures market and Albertan, producers have cattle price insurance.“We feel we need a national program to stay on a level playing field,” said Lynn Grant, a Canadian Cattlemen’s Association director from Val Marie.Saskatchewan cattle analyst Grant Zalinko, who has been researching a program for the province, told the meeting that Alberta has implemented its fed cattle program, and its yearling program will be available in the fall. A calf program will follow next spring.He said premiums for the fed cattle program are in the range of $2 to $2.50 per hundredweight.“It would be anticipated the yearling products should be able to be priced in that same range, but the price per hundredweight on calves would likely be higher,” he said.“One has to think with the increased volatility in the global markets and all the debt right now you’d probably be paying a premium for coverage.”Zalinko said last fall 100 percent coverage was about $4 per cwt. for calves, so the premium on a 550-pound animal is about $22.He added Saskatchewan is in a wait-and-see mode. The CCA has called for a national program.“Currently we don’t have the IT platform and infrastructure in place in Saskatchewan to deliver a product similar to Alberta,” Zalinko said.There has been discussion about the possibility that premiums could be cost-shared on the same formula as crop insurance premiums, which are paid 40 percent by the producer, 36 percent by the federal government and 24 percent by the province. This would make price insurance more affordable.Grant said he wanted to know if the SSGA would support that arrangement.“You would have tax dollars going into the premiums, which could be considered a countervailable item if countervail action was to take place,” Grant said. “I guess part of why I brought this forward is I would like some direction.”He said the cost-share discussion should not forestall actual implementation.“CCA has gotten a separate firm to do a risk assessment regarding some of the potential trade concerns,” he said, adding the organization would lobby for a national program at the upcoming federal-provincial agriculture ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon.SSGA president Calvin Knoss of Rockglen spoke against the cost-share, saying producers should fully fund a program like this.He said the risk of trade action is too high.“There’s definite reference to a previous corn ruling where crop insurance premiums have already been proven and accepted as direct government subsidy,” Knoss said of a draft CCA report about the trade risk.“When something tips the balance, then everything they can think of gets thrown in the pot. I prefer we just don’t take the risk to begin with.”A resolution that the SSGA support the concept of cost-shared premiums was defeated.
Read Also
University of Saskatchewan experts helping ‘herders’ in Mongolia
The Canadian government and the University of Saskatchewan are part of a $10 million project trying to help Mongolian farmers modernize their practices.
