Saskatchewan producers who have spent millions of dollars trying to control gophers are now able to get half their money back.
The provincial government last week announced a rebate program for poison purchased between Aug. 1, 2007, and Oct. 1, 2008.
Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said individual producers, First Nations and rural municipalities are eligible for the rebates on the costs of 25 products. Capital items such as gophinators and traps are not eligible.
The rebate is a sort of interim measure while research projects look for long-term solutions to control the gopher population.
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“In the meantime we hope this will help ease the financial burden,” Bjornerud said.
“We think the producers have spent about $6 million on gopher control.”
He expects about 75 percent of the money will be directed to the southwest, where drought has made conditions ideal for gophers. In some areas, it appears the ground is moving because there are so many gophers running around.
“The destruction … you have to see it to really believe the problem,” he said.
The rebate is welcome, said Dave Marit, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and a farmer in the southwest. He said he knows of individual producers who have spent as much as $50,000 and RMs that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The program is a one-time initiative that may be rolled into other rodent control programs in the future if needed.
The federal, provincial and 164 rural municipal governments have contributed to a research project to find better ways to control gophers. Right now, liquid strychnine works the best but access to it is carefully regulated. That research has just begun and will last three years.
A list of the products eligible for rebate can be found at www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca.
Rebate applications are available at RM offices, Saskatchewan Agriculture offices and on the website, or by calling 866-947-9113. The deadline to submit an application is Jan. 30, 2009.
