CAIS cost

[grassfarmer]

I read this morning that CAIS program administrators are congratulating themselves on keeping the cost per claim to under $400. Wow, that's a lot of phone calls and letters. I wonder how much(and when)the average payout will be?
Looks like a positive job creation program anyways, all these Government types gainfully employed plus all the rural accountants sending out bills that will be more than $400 I'm sure.

[almoy]

All the mistakes they make and then have to "review" !!

[Bez]

Too bad my claim cost was not less than 400 bucks.

My wife calls it the Chartered Accountant Income Supplement Program.

Just once i would like to see a major program:

a. Work
b. Be workable from MY kitchen table and using MY numbers.
c. Payout in under three weeks.
d. Not require outside expensive help to complete the forms.
d. Show up when I need it - not when it is convenient for the administrator.

Have I missed any?

Bet there's a bunch more points on this one .....

Bez

[farmers_son]

The problem with CAIS is not how difficult the forms are to fill out, how long it takes to get your cheque, having to hire an accountant or the cost of administering the program.

I see the problem with CAIS is that producers are discarded and allowed to fall through the safety net if they have more than 3 bad years in the last five. BSE has nothing to do with management and the drought in 2002 was a crisis for the entire industry as well. There are far too many producers who will have no reference margin left in 2005. What happens to them? Some safety net... Give to the rich and let the poor fend for themselves.

The safety net dollars have not been distributed fairly. Those producers who take exceptionally high risks get the biggest safety net, encouraging large scale single enterprise operators at the expense of diversified family farmers.

The problem of disappearing reference margins has to be addressed by the Federal and Provincial Governments early in 2005. The risk management pillar is serving to eliminate medium sized farmers at a time when rural depopulation is an increasing problem in rural Canada. CAIS caps for mega farms have been raised to $3million from $500,000. Hopefully that extra money is not being made up by letting medium sized farms disappear along with their reference margins.

[grassfarmer]

Farmers_son, The CAIS limit being raised to $3 million was crazy. As far as I know the NFU is the only commodity or industry group that has opposed this move from day one. Once again what were the "leaders" of our industry thinking - it looks clear that huge payouts, to corporate hog barns for example, will lead to lesser, or non-existant payouts to family farms.

[praying4therain]

I wanted to make a quick comment directed towards the misinformed. To be prosperous and face the adversities our industry faces we need to educate ourselves in all aspect of managing our agricultural business. I completed the CAIS Program forms myself in an evening. Why pay an accountant for something I should be responsible for? The handbook was easy to understand. I am a responsible manager of my agriculture business and keep good records. I feel the program has been simplified from the earlier disaster programs AIDA and CFIP, while combineing the stabilization aspects of NISA all into one program. The agriculture industry is continually changing, and if we as farmers want to keep our industry somewhat sustainable, we need to advance with the new programs.