The president of Keystone Agricultural Producers wonders what the final outcome will be of a review on the Net Income Stabilization Account.
The review has been billed as a chance for farmers and farm groups to recommend improvements to the program.
But Don Dewar has some reservations. The KAP president is worried that government bureaucrats want to weaken NISA rather than strengthen it.
His suspicions are based on past criticisms from Ottawa about farmers who have built up large accounts and have never withdrawn from them, even in times of falling farm incomes.
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“We know there are people in the bureaucracy trying to undermine the program,” Dewar said.
“The bureaucrats would like to gut it.”
Feedback is being gathered from farmers and farm groups through a NISA review questionnaire.
The questionnaire can be found on the internet at www.agr.ca/
nisareview.
Deadline for submissions is April 6.
NISA spokesperson Ellen Funk said the review is being done in hope of making the program better.
That desire was expressed last July when federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief met with provincial counterparts, Funk said.
“The ministers have said the intent is to strengthen the program and make sure it is working properly.”
The questionnaire has been mailed to NISA account holders and to about 250 farm groups across Canada.
NISA was established in 1991. By law, it must be reviewed every five years. Under the program, producers deposit funds into an account and receive matching government contributions. By allowing the accounts to grow, producers create a fund to help stabilize their revenues in lower income years.
The president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture supports the review.
Bob Friesen said the program is serving farmers well, but he believes there is room for change.
“I think NISA, in general, is well liked,” said Friesen, who chairs the national safety nets advisory committee.
“Those who are participating are seeing a real benefit in this program.”
Friesen knows NISA has its detractors. For that reason, he agrees with Dewar that some vigilance is needed.
“The one thing we don’t want to do is make changes that undermine the program,” said the CFA president. “We don’t want to see changes that are going to discount compensation to farmers.”
Friesen thinks it would benefit producers if deposits and withdrawals from their NISA accounts could be deferred.
He also would like NISA contributions to be made tax deductible.
Marvin Shauf, vice-president of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, has heard little from producers about the NISA review.
He said the lack of commentary could indicate that many producers are not aware of the review.
Shauf sees no need for a major overhaul of NISA, although he would like to see some fine-tuning. For the benefit of farmers, he suggests there could be changes to the way people who use NISA are taxed.
He also said changes could help people who withdraw from their accounts every year. Withdrawing funds annually can prevent a NISA account from getting large enough to work effectively as a means of income stabilization.
One option is to enhance the interest paid on NISA accounts for farmers in that situation, Shauf said. That would provide greater incentives to let NISA funds accumulate.
Another option is to increase the matching government deposit.
But Shauf wants changes to be made cautiously.
“We need to be careful with this program that we don’t damage it.”
“I think it is a good program. It’s predictable and it provides a good backstop so you can manage risk.”
