Canadian farmers with money sitting in deposit accounts of the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program should be able to withdraw the entire amount within a month of applying, federal and provincial governments agreed last week.
It means that 62,600 farmers with CAIS deposits will have access to more than $600 million of their own money that has been tied up in the program bureaucracy for months or years.
Until now, one-third of their deposit was not available for withdrawal.
“This will ease the cash flow issues which many producers are facing,” said a June 10 announcement that all federal, provincial and territorial governments had signed an agreement to free up the controversial CAIS deposits.
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While different provinces have different CAIS rules, farmers can receive instructions on how to apply for their money by calling 866-367-8506 or contacting their provincial administrators.
Meanwhile, members of the national CAIS review committee meet this week to continue consideration of government proposals to replace the CAIS deposit with a new form of farmer obligation.
The committee is to make recommendations to federal and provincial agriculture ministers when they meet in Alberta in early July.
But a senior Agriculture Canada official made it clear again last week that even after the deposit requirement is ended, farmers wishing to benefit from the CAIS program in the future will have to make an up-front financial commitment.
Farm leaders have condemned the idea as a form of penance for joining a government program, since they already commit to paying a price by absorbing the first layer of farm losses before CAIS kicks in. Ottawa and the majority of provinces insist it simply is a requirement that farmers show a commitment to the program by putting something on the line.
At the House of Commons agriculture committee June 7, assistant deputy agriculture minister Mary Komarynsky, in charge of the farm financial programs branch, said the key idea being presented to the CAIS review committee is the creation of a fee for joining CAIS, possibly paid as a deductible once a payment is made to the farmer.
“One of the things the national CAIS committee said is that whatever option we come up with, for example a fee, has to be affordable to producers,” she said.
Analysis has been done on how much is too much.
“That’s what we’ll be discussing with the NCC next week.”
She said a central issue is how to design a structure that allows producers to select higher or lower levels of coverage depending on the fee they pay.
How to replace the CAIS deposit requirement will be a key debating point when agriculture ministers meet in July.
Farmers insist no commitment is necessary because farmers take the risks, but governments apparently have decided otherwise.
The compromise being promoted to the national CAIS review committee is that if farmers do not have to deposit money first because it takes away from the capital they need to run the farm, they still should commit to having a fee deducted once a payment is triggered.
