Sask Pork Calls for Changes in CAIS Admin.

[joedales]

Sask Pork Calls for Changes in CAIS Administration

Farmscape for January 29, 2008 (Episode 2730)



The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board is calling on the provincial government to assume the administration of the CAIS program in that province.

Last November Saskatchewan's pork and beef producers called on governments come up with programs, including improvements to the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program, to help them contend with the current low prices.

In response Ottawa announced the Targeted Advance Program under CAIS, a program which had been supposed to provide the province's hog producers about 18 million dollars.

Sask Pork general manager Neil Ketilson says about one quarter of the province's hog producers have now learned they'll get nothing under the program and the rest will get significantly less support than they were told they could expect.



Clip-Neil Ketilson-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board

First of all it seems obvious to us that the CAIS program, the way it works in terms of its lags, in terms of payments, in terms of its total inability to meet the cash needs of the industry, isn't going to work for us.

I think that point needs to be made loud and strong.

The program is a mature program now.

It's had a three or four year stint.

Surely the people that are managing that operation should be able to get a program that meets the needs of the industry.

I'm sure if you talk to a lot of people in the agriculture sector, they're not convinced of that.

So we're going to be asking our provincial government to bring that program and the administration of that back to Saskatchewan so that we hopefully can get a program that's administered correctly, timely, accurately and is a transparent one.



Ketilson notes the short term hog loan being provided by the province is a significant help to producers and will get them through the winter.

However, he stresses, without federal support beyond CAIS the hog industry will not be the same one year from now as it is today.

For Farmscape. Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

[skhadenuf]

I totally sympathize with the hog and cattle producers, BUT as a grain farmer we went through multiple years of no crop and no price and because of the idiotic margin calculation recived very little, and in fact in 2006 when we seeded no acres due to flooding recieved 0 dollars under the cais program. Like I have said previously on this forum we voted for a government that said they would change things if we had dissasters such as the price problem for livestock or flooding, frost, etc. we would be able to take their new programs to the bank. Yeah right!!!! What a crock of crap. Have done ab****ely nothing except set up this stage of debate over cwb. Get rid of it and get on with governing, but I suppose as long the argument of the cwb continues the bigger problems like disaster assurances for poor livestock prices and loss of crop will not have to be dealt with. Oh and by the way, you guys in livestock industry have the same problem we have our so called industry reps calling for loans to help you through. Boy that makes a lot of sense, get a loan to see you through in the short term but in the end you have to pay it back and when you do the increase in the future prices for your animals will be eaten up by having to pay the loan back. So who is further ahead?? No one except the idiots who claim to represent the industry.