SASKATOON — The Saskatchewan government will end its livestock feeding subsidy program, says the minister of agriculture.
“When we initially extended it, it was on the condition when Alberta got rid of theirs we would get rid of ours,” said Darrel Cunningham.
Last week Alberta’s minister of agriculture Walter Paszkowski announced that province would be dropping its nine-year-old feed grain subsidy. Alberta’s Crow Benefit Offset was costing the government $44 million a year. The program was implemented in 1985 to balance price distortions created by the export subsidy paid to railways.
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Saskatchewan’s interim red meat production equalization program, called IRMPEP, cost the province $6.75 million last year. Producers said they needed the program to stay competitive with Alberta.
Cunningham expects the formal announcement will be made before the Feb. 17 provincial budget. Before that he will talk to producer groups about how the program should be wound down.
Unlike the Alberta program which pays producers $10 per tonne of feed, the Saskatchewan program pays on a per pound gain. Cattle paid 3.5 cents per pound of gain, hogs paid 1.6 cents per pound of gain and lambs and goats paid 1.8 cents per pound of gain. The program will likely wind down when the livestock bought with the subsidies have been sold.
Cancellation expected
Jim Morris, general manager of the province’s hog board, SPI Marketing Group, said it doesn’t come as a surprise the program is ending. The government warned industry the program would end when Alberta’s program was disbanded.
Morris said he hopes the loss of the subsidy also ends the “bias” toward grain use on the Prairies.
Moose Jaw feedlot owner Glen Thompson said his only caution was how long the industry would be without a subsidy until the method of payment was decided.
“It would be disheartening to think we’ll abandon the program without getting the method of payment settled.”
