Major Revision Possible For AgriStability

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Canada’s key agricultural safety net program may undergo a redesign to make it more acceptable to a majority of producers who say it isn’t working for them.

Agriculture ministers could consider turning AgriStability into something resembling an income insurance program without the highly unpopular financial margins underpinning it.

The idea is only one of many options under consideration for the next generation of farm business risk management programs.

But the fact that ministers are even looking at switching from a margin-based program to an insurance-based one could signal a major shift in government thinking on farm income support.

“I see us coming toward a watershed time in terms of where we move with safety nets,” said Ian Wishart, Keystone Agricultural Producers president. “It’ll go this way or it’ll go that way, and they’re quite different.”

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Farmers have complained for years that AgriStability and its predecessors CAIS, CFIP and AIDA are flawed because they work off individual financial margins based on previous years’ average income. If incomes remain low for several consecutive years, margins shrink and payments decline just when producers need money the most.

That’s particularly true for beef producers who have suffered from depressed markets ever since BSE occurred in 2003.

“You eventually get to the point where there’s nothing to pay out,” said Ron Bonnett, Canadian Federation of Agriculture first vice-president.

Government sources confirm agriculture ministers are exploring the option of an insurance-based model for AgriStability as part of a business risk management (BRM) program review.

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