The deadline for Canadian farmers to enroll in AgriStability has been extended for two months — making 2022 the fourth year in a row with a enrolment deadline bump for the farm income stabilization program.
The enrolment deadline without penalty for the 2022 program year was previously scheduled for this Saturday, April 30, but is now June 30, 2022, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said in a release Thursday.
The extension, as agreed on by the federal, provincial and territorial governments, “allows farmers more time to sign up and take advantage of the support available under the program,” AAFC said.
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The federal and Saskatchewan governments, in a separate release Thursday, said the extension “will help producers manage the impact of avian influenza (bird flu), current market disruptions, increased expenses and production challenges facing many farm operations.”
The program enrolment deadline for AgriStability is usually the last day of April but that deadline was extended nationally to July 2 in 2019, July 3 in 2020 and June 30 in 2021.
The deadline was similarly extended for specific regions’ farmers in previous program years, such as in Manitoba in 2009. Individual provinces in previous years also invoked a late-participation mechanism that allowed farmers to enter AgriStability late at a reduced benefit level.
“Many producers are facing stress and uncertainty due to circumstances beyond their control,” federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in Saskatchewan’s release Thursday.
“This step to extend the enrolment deadline will help more producers manage the impact of challenges facing their farm operations and provide them with more time to take advantage of the support available under AgriStability.”
“Producers cannot control every risk impacting their operation, but they can control how they prepare for them,” Saskatchewan’s Ag Minister Dave Marit said in the same release. The extension, he said, “gives producers additional time to customize their risk management package for their operations.”
The program, set up in 2007 as part of the Growing Forward federal/provincial ag policy funding framework as a replacement for the CAIS income stabilization program, is a margin-based plan providing support when a farmer takes on a large decline in farm income.
Farmers experiencing losses this year are encouraged to apply for interim AgriStability payments for “more rapid” support, the governments said Thursday. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
