The payments farmers received from three AgriRecovery programs in Saskatchewan last year are considered allowable income under AgriStability.
The payments, which must be included as income in 2010 AgriStability applications, include drought payments for the northwest announced in May, provincewide excess moisture payments announced in July and feed assistance payments made available in November.
However, the money will not be included in future reference margins.
The same is true for the Saskatchewan Feed and Forage Program, even though the federal government chose to target its support under this program and the province made it available to all.
Peggy Weatherbee, customer relations manager for AgriStability, said the income is removed from calculations so it won’t distort long-term historical reference margins.
She said the disaster experienced by many last year and the resulting unseeded acres will not create a structural change for individual operators.
Structural changes are used in AgriStability calculations to make sure reference margins reflect an operation’s current size.
