An Alberta cattle producer said a provincial government decision to end the Reference Margin Pilot Project would cost him about $40,000 on his 250 head cattle operation.
The provincial pilot project was implemented to help Alberta farmers deal with eroding reference margins under the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program.
The pilot program allowed producers to use their choice of either the olympic average margin of dropping the high and low of the previous five years or the previous three year average, whatever was better for the producer.
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“This is a change of rules that no one knows about,” said Mike Berlinguette of St. Paul.
No notice was given that the pilot project would be dropped and producers applying for the new AgriStability program will be able to use only the olympic average during calculations.
Lana Kelk, a readiness manager with AFSC, the agency that administers the AgriStability program, said the program was never intended to last forever, but was brought in to help Alberta farmers facing back-to-back agricultural disasters like drought and BSE.
“Those extenuating circumstances no longer exist,” said Kelk.
“It was never expected to be a permanent program.”
Kelk said the program was not a permanent change to the then CAIS program, but an ad hoc program brought in by the province to help its farmers.
The program was applied to CAIS applications from 2003 to 2008.
Berlinguette said cattle and hog producers, who have struggled with low prices, will be impacted by the loss of the pilot project.
“Everyone knows how poor the margins are for cattle or hog producers,” he said.
Berlinguette believes the program was dropped to limit the province’s financial payout to grain farmers in the upcoming year and because of large payouts for crop insurance this year. He’s also upset the program was quietly dropped without notice to producers.
“It might wake up politicians if they got a few angry phone calls,” he said.
Kelk said she doesn’t know how much the pilot project cost the province.
Alternative programs are available now for producers facing difficult times, she said.
