Alberta farmers will receive an extra $70 million through the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program.
“We’ve heard our producers continue to express concerns that the CAIS program is still not responsive enough after the disasters affecting our industry,” said agriculture minister George Groeneveld.
One of the weaknesses in the program is that it’s based on the previous five years of farm income, he said, but with few good financial years, CAIS support was declining. The additional $70 million applies to the 2006 CAIS program year and will be administered the same as the Alberta Reference Margin Program Pilot in the 2003-05 program years.
Groeneveld said the extra money, which comes from the agriculture department’s operating surplus, will tide producers over until recently announced changes to federal agricultural programs come into effect.
Alberta Financial Services Corp., the provincial agency administering CAIS in Alberta, will automatically review all claims submitted for 2006 and make any adjustments. Producers must submit their supplementary information before the Sept. 30 deadline.
