Officials who manage complicated farm safety net programs are working on a way to simplify application forms.
They want to create a database of the financial history of each farmer who has a Net Income Stabilization Account or applies for disaster assistance.
Each year, farmers would have to file only one form to update the information, said Al Burrows, director of business development for the NISA administration.
“Better client service is the primary driver here,” said Burrows.
The database would automatically calculate whether the farmers are eligible for disaster payments, just as the NISA program now automatically calculates whether farmers are eligible to make deposits or withdrawals, said Burrows.
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“The cycle of getting the cheque out in a hurry becomes much smaller,” he said.
Burrows compared the concept to the change made four years ago when NISA forms were harmonized with income tax forms, which saved NISA administrators and farmers time, money and stress.
“It’s like taking the NISA concept and we just want to grow it,” said Burrows.
The proposal is in preliminary stages. Burrows has broached the concept with some farm groups and farmer focus groups, and plans a broader survey of farmer and accountants’ opinions in the fall. So far, reaction has been positive.
But Don Dewar, chair of the safety nets committee for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said he wants to hear more about the concept.
“This would be giving the government access to virtually every piece of information we have,” Dewar told the semi-annual meeting of the CFA held here at the end of July.
Dewar said he is worried about the security of the information.
“We know what hackers can do.”
He is also worried government policy makers could analyze figures from the database to work out new farm program ideas, bypassing farm groups.
Burrows acknowledged security is a key concern.
“We want to raise it before they (farmers) raise it,” he said.
The government may consider creating a “farmer bill of rights” to describe precisely how the information will be used and controlled.
Burrows said he hopes by being up-front and proactive, the department will avoid the uproar caused in other departments. Earlier this year, Human Resources Development Canada revealed it had compiled a database of information on every Canadian.
But it killed the program after a huge public uproar.
Burrows said if farmers don’t agree with the proposal, the department will look for other ways to simplify the administration of the safety net programs. He noted the database will contain information that farmers already submit to government.
There may be side benefits to the database, Burrows added.
Farmers could tap into their personal information to share with their accountants or bankers, for example.
“It’s all about empowering the producer to make some choices without worrying about Big Brother.”
