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.

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

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“They [Cargill] have worked through most of the issues,” Canadian Grain Commission spokesman Remi Gosselin said in an interview Tuesday. “Our understanding at the grain commission is that there should be no issues on a go-forward basis for future deliveries and they are working through previous deliveries to resolve all of the complaints, but it’s going to take sometime to get through each one of them.”

Some farmers who delivered grain starting in August complained Cargill was slow to pay them. Under the Canada Grain Act, licensed primary grain elevators are obliged to pay farmers for their grain immediately if the farmer requests it.

Payment delays followed “the implementation of a new technology system,” Cargill official April Nelson wrote in an email Friday.

“We apologize for the impact this has had on our Canadian grain customers and our teams are dedicated to fulfilling all contracts as soon as possible. We know that this experience is not what customers expect from Cargill.

“We are committed to a high level of service and are in frequent communication with the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) as we navigate this issue, with focused priority on quick resolution for our farmer customers. We ask anyone currently experiencing payment delays to reach out to their local Cargill representative if they haven’t already done so.”

The Western Producer reported on Cargill’s problems Sept. 30.

The CGC was aware of the issue and working with Cargill, Gosselin said in an interview with the Manitoba Co-operator Nov. 1.

“The point we want to make is farmers don’t need to worry about the financial wellbeing of Cargill,” he said. “It’s not that they are going out of business, or having trouble paying producers, it’s more about their internal computer systems having a glitch and they are working on resolving that problem.

“Believe me, if we had any indication of any problem the CGC would be taking action. We have no indication of financial difficulties at Cargill.”

A number of farmers have complained about Cargill’s slow payments on social media.

In a letter Friday to Cargill customers president Jeff Vassart apologized and asked for continued patience.

“Your local [Cargill] team has been working extremely hard throughout this difficult situation and is dedicated to delivering excellent customer support,” Vassart wrote. “They continue to actively communicate the customer impact of these issues to Cargill leadership. Please know we continue to work hard to return to the level of service you deserve.

“If you require an immediate payment, please reach out to your Cargill representative or your Cargill location. We will ensure your payment is addressed as quickly as possible. We will continue to post updates on CargillAg.ca as we continue to work through these issues.”

Unpaid farmers can also call the CGC, Gosselin said.

“Our [CGC] experience has been when we escalate things with them [Cargill] that they resolve the individual complaints in relatively short order,” he said.

“Cargill will be presenting us with a plan on how they will work through all of the outstanding payments. There is open and direct communications with Cargill and we are in direct contact with them.”

Ensuring farmers get paid for ‘regulated‘ grain delivered to licensed grain companies is part of the CGC’s role under the Grains Act.

The CGC regularly audits grain companies to ensure they have enough security posted to cover farmer liabilities. However, the CGC’s payment protection program is time-limited.

After delivering grain, farmers have 90 days to exchange a primary elevator receipt or grain receipt for a cash purchase ticket or cheque. But once a farmer receives a cash purchase ticket or cheque, he or she is eligible for compensation paid from the licensed company’s security for only 30 days, so long as it’s still within the 90 days post-delivery. If not, farmers are ineligible for payments from the company’s posted security.

There’s also a chance the security doesn’t cover all what’s owed to farmers. In that case payments are pro-rated. That’s why the CGC recommends farmers get paid as soon as they deliver grain to an elevator.

— Allan Dawson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Miami, Man.

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The province announced Tuesday that eligibility for the $1,200 payments would expand to more categories of workers who “provided critical services to Albertans, were essential to the supply and movement of goods, and faced greater potential risk of exposure to COVID-19 through their work environments.”

“To show appreciation for as many workers as possible, more $1,200 payments will be going to recognize workers in critical sectors who have not yet received a payment,” Labour Minister Jason Copping said in a release.

Private-sector employers, including farm employers, can apply on behalf of employees between now and July 23, the province said. Employers will be responsible for distributing the $1,200 benefit payments to eligible employees.

Eligible employees must have worked a minimum of 300 hours during the period of Oct. 12, 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021. They must be making $25 per hour or less, must be located in — and working in — Alberta and must have not yet received a Critical Worker Benefit payment.

In the first phase of the program, about $355 million was distributed to about 289,800 workers, the province said. The second phase will see another $99 million available for about 76,500 workers; of that, up to $80.3 million is earmarked for about 62,200 private-sector workers.

In farming, workers eligible for payments in the second phase must be involved in “crop production, animal production or aquaculture (and) directly involved in the production of food for human consumption.”

Other eligible workers in the second phase are to include transport truck drivers, material handlers, delivery and courier service drivers and “other trades helpers and labourers” as well as light duty cleaners, janitors, caretakers, building superintendents, security guards, funeral home and cemetery workers, taxi drivers and full-service restaurant workers. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The agency said it would also increase by approximately $5.6 billion payments made to cattle producers and growers of crops like corn and soybeans (all figures US$). COVID-19 disrupted agricultural supply chains last year, though corn and soybean prices are now at multi-year highs.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said the agency needs to expand financial assistance to more farmers because a review of COVID-19 programs under former President Donald Trump found disparities in the distribution of aid. He said there also was inadequate outreach to disadvantaged producers and smaller operators.

The $6 billion will be used to develop new programs or modify existing proposals using discretionary funding from the coronavirus stimulus relief act approved in December and other aid that was unspent by the Trump administration, according to USDA.

“Many farmers did not benefit from previous rounds of pandemic-related assistance,” Vilsack said.

Since the Trump administration announced COVID-19 aid for farmers in April 2020, USDA has sent more than $23.79 billion to farmers and ranchers through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The agency has spent more than $4 billion purchasing food for distribution to food banks and pantries across the country.

USDA said it will use coronavirus stimulus funds to increase by $4.5 billion payments to more than 560,000 farmers who grow crops such as corn, soy and wheat and previously received aid under the assistance program.

The agency will also increase previous payment rates that cattle ranchers received under the program by more than $1.1 billion, according to a statement. Livestock producers suffered in 2020 as COVID-19 outbreaks among slaughterhouse workers temporarily closed meat processing plants.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

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At the online federal-provincial-territorial agriculture ministers’ meeting on Friday, federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau proposed dropping AgriStability’s maximum reference margin, and increasing the compensation rate from 70 to 80 per cent retroactively this year and for calendar 2021 and 2022.

“Taken together, these changes would increase the overall amount AgriStability pays out to farmers by 50 per cent,” the federal government said in a news release.

Like other provinces, Manitoba is studying Bibeau’s proposal, which would cost the province at least $15 million more a year, Pedersen said.

But what Ottawa is offering farmers might hurt them more in the long run, he added.

At the meeting’s close Bibeau said farm support “payments are going to rich farmers only,” according to Pedersen. He interpreted that to mean under the next five year federal-provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership, due to begin April 1, 2023, Bibeau’s plan is to cut spending on other farm support programs, including AgriInsurance and AgriInvest.

“(T)he federal government seems to have implied they are putting out something now but they are going to claw back the money later and that’s our big concern,” Pedersen said. “We want to look at the long-term stability of farm programs to make sure that they are bankable, that they are timely and that they work for the farm community.

“Be careful what you ask for…”

The federal government’s AgriStability proposal shows it wants to invest in farm supports, not cut them, a spokesperson from Bibeau’s office stated in an email Tuesday.

“She has put a concrete offer on the table for the provinces to consider,” the official wrote. “She is trying to find a national consensus to boost the amount AgriStability pays out to farmers by 50 per cent for 2020 and ongoing.

“Formal consultations on the direction of the next policy framework have not even started yet, and it is far too early to imply anything otherwise. All levels of government have a chance to listen to farmers today and step up to meaningful and immediate reforms that will significantly improve the lives of farmers.”

While Pedersen said Manitoba will closely review Bibeau’s AgriStability proposal, he’s also asking farmers to consider four other options, including a margin-based insurance program that could replace AgriStability.

Details need to be worked out, but farm income could be stabilized by insuring farm margins with governments and farmers sharing the premium costs, Pedersen said.

Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) wants to see more details before endorsing that plan, president Bill Campbell said in an interview.

Bibeau’s AgriStability proposal looks promising, he added.

“I think if some of the issues were addressed and fixed it wouldn’t necessarily be a broken program,” he said, in response to Pedersen’s critique of AgriStability.

Canadian farmers have been advocating for AgriStability improvements since 2013 when the Harper government changed it. Campbell said he’s frustrated Ottawa’s proposal took so long.

“Nobody could counter-offer or object until something was on the table,” he said. “Now it’s going to take another three or four months to figure it out.”

Agriculture can play a role in boosting Canada’s economy post-COVID, but the industry needs income stabilization to realize its potential, Campbell said.

Check out the Dec. 10 issue of the Manitoba Co-operator for more details on this story.

— Allan Dawson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Miami, Man.

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However, the potential for farmers not getting what they are owed has been reduced, CGC spokesman Remi Gosselin said in an interview Friday.

“We do believe the company has returned the majority of their inventory back to producers who hold primary elevator receipts,” he said.

Gosselin couldn’t specify the volume, but said “it’s significant.”

Why it matters: While CGC-licensed grain companies are obliged to post security to cover what farmers are owed for grain they deliver, but haven’t been paid for during a specified period, sometimes it’s not enough. The more beans farmers retrieved from the elevator means fewer farmers will have to rely on the security to be made whole.

The CGC on Oct. 30 suspended Global Grain’s license, and that of two related companies — Globeways Canada Inc. and Canpulse Foods Ltd., located at Mississauga. Ont. and Kindersley, Sask., respectively — after being notified the firms no longer had security to cover money owed to farmers.

All three companies were placed in receivership Thursday, Gosselin said.

Meanwhile, the CGC has access to $1.25 million in security from Global Grain, $6.5 million from Canpulse Foods and $50,000 from Globeways Canada.

The latter was not doing much direct business with farmers, while the former had not been buying much grain from farmers during the three months before the CGC suspended its license, Gosselin said.

“It may not be an overall good situation, but what it’s doing is making a potentially bad situation a little better,” Daryl Domitruk, executive director of the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Association, said in an interview Thursday.

“From the grower perspective the ideal would be the company would remain in business and everyone gets paid, but given the circumstances it was fortunate that a lot of growers, apparently, were able to retrieve their beans. That’s going to be helpful to the sector. I have no idea of numbers, but we know there were lineups of trucks at Plum Coulee. There obviously are some people in the system that were being good actors. I think that’s helpful for the industry.”

The CGC has long contended grain sitting in elevators that hasn’t been paid for remains the property of the farmers who delivered it. That’s spelled out in the Canada Grains Act: “The holder of an elevator receipt is entitled to the delivery of grain of the same kind, grade and quantity as referred to in the elevator receipt.”

However, failed grain companies’ secured creditors have argued stored grain is just another asset to be liquidated to cover what they are owed.

With Global Grain it appears the beans were retrieved by farmers before it went into receivership.

“Our view is that if producers delivered grain to an elevator, but they had not been paid for it, it’s theirs,” Gosselin said.

Last year the CGC was preparing to put the issue to a legal test after another pulse crop buyer, ILTA Grain, went into creditor protection while owing farmers millions of dollars for their crops.

“That matter was never settled, but what happened there sort of tweaked producers to their rights as to grain in inventory,” Gosselin said.

The best way to ensure farmers get paid for their grain is to request payment upon delivery, he said.

CGC security only applies for 90 days after a farmer receives an elevator or grain receipt. Farmers have just 30 days of protection after getting a cheque, but within that 90-day period.

“Let’s say for example you are on day 89, you’ve got one day left to cash a cheque to remain eligible,” Gosselin said.

If the cheque is cashed on day 91 and bounces the farmer is ineligible for security payments, he said.

“We have tremendous respect when the Canadian Grain Commission gets involved in these things,” Domitruk said. “We’d advise growers to heed their advice. It’s better to heed their advice than to learn the hard way.”

— Allan Dawson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Miami, Man.

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La Financiere agricole du Quebec (FADQ), the provincial ag lending agency, announced Wednesday it will pay out about $9.1 million to businesses participating in the four programs effective Nov. 1.

FADQ noted it made a similar advance payout effective May 1, sending $6.2 million to 3,364 farm clients under the programs, for which the regular payment dates each year are June 1 and Dec. 1.

The programs covered include:

• Programme Investissement Croissance (PIC), providing grants to farms making investments in productivity and sustainability;
• Programme d’appui au developpement des entreprises agricoles du Quebec (PADEAQ), a program supporting on-farm upgrades to meet new requirements;
• Programme d’appui a la diversification et au developpement regional (PDDR), a regional development and diversification program; and
• Programme de soutien au financement des investissements en matiere de bien-etre animal et d’efficacite energetique (PSFI), which supports on-farm investments in animal welfare and energy efficiency.

PIC was set up in April this year as a replacement for PADEAQ and PDDR — both of which ended March 31 but are still paying out on projects approved before then. PSFI runs to the end of March 2022 or until its funds are fully committed, whichever comes first.

The second round of early payments is meant to “support farm businesses in the context of the (COVID-19) pandemic,” FADQ said Wednesday.

FADQ noted it has put other exceptional measures in place to help get farmers through pandemic-related cash crunches, including moratoriums of up to six months on loan repayments, and loan guarantees of up to $50,000 to provide working capital to farms up against “temporary problems of liquidity.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her Manitoba counterpart, Blaine Pedersen, on Thursday announced the 2020 Canada-Manitoba Finished Cattle Feed Assistance Program, an AgriRecovery plan budgeted for up to $2.5 million in federal funds.

Applications are now being accepted for the program, with a deadline of Dec. 1.

The program is expected to provide owners of finished cattle $1.20 per day per animal, up to a maximum 63 days — that is, $75.60 per head — toward their costs to feed animals “beyond their expected marketing dates.”

The costs must have been incurred during a period when cattle were ready for market and slaughter, but major Alberta beef packers had either closed or cut operating hours due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

For this program, the “extraordinary feed period” — which includes the “time needed to address the cattle supply backlog in Western Canada” — is defined as April 15 to Aug. 31, 2020.

Put another way, the “extraordinary feed period” began either April 15 or when the cattle in question reached the minimum eligible weight (for steers, 1,400 lbs.; for heifers, 1,300 lbs.), whichever date came later. That feed period must have run for at least 14 days and ended either by Aug. 31 or on the actual slaughter date of the cattle, whichever date came first.

Applicants must also have owned the cattle for at least 60 days before slaughter and must have missed intended marketing dates due to “COVID-19-related slaughter interruptions.”

Payments won’t be issued on fewer than five eligible animals, nor for amounts that work out to less than $200.

The AgriRecovery funds are federal, as Ottawa has said it would put up its share of funds for such programs for the 2020-21 year without requiring provincial contributions — but the Manitoba government will take applications and handle payments.

The program follows COVID-19 outbreaks this spring at major beef plants in Alberta which infected hundreds of workers and killed two, plus the father of a third, and had a ripple effect across Canadian cattle markets.

Against rising case numbers, Cargill shut its High River, Alta. plant for two weeks in April and the JBS plant at Brooks temporarily slowed from two shifts to one, leading to backlogs at feedlots that were estimated to have peaked at around 130,000 animals in May. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The coronavirus aid is the latest in a round of government payments that farmers have come to depend on for survival as the agricultural economy has soured. Growers already have received $28 billion during the past two years to weather the Trump administration’s trade wars (all figures US$).

The payments were set at 45 cents per bushel for soybeans, 32 cents per bushel for corn and 18 cents per bushel for hard red spring wheat, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. Other crops such as barley, canola, cotton and oats also were eligible for payment under the plan.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to much uncertainty across farm country,” National Corn Growers Association president Kevin Ross said in a statement. “This assistance is a first step to getting farmers, and our customers, back on solid footing.”

President Donald Trump in April first announced a $19 billion relief program to help U.S. farmers cope with the impact of the coronavirus, including $16 billion in direct payments to producers and mass purchases of meat, dairy, vegetables and other products.

“We will need additional assistance for producers before the end of the fiscal year,” U.S. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, chairman of the agriculture appropriations subcommittee, said in a statement.

Farmers can apply for the payments starting on May 26, USDA said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub, Karl Plume and Julie Ingwersen.

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The province on Thursday announced it will increase the compensation rate available through the federal/provincial income stabilization program from 70 per cent to 80 per cent when margins fall below the 30 per cent payment threshold.

That means “every payment in 2019 and 2020 from AgriStability will be increased by 14.3 per cent,” Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said in a release.

“Currently, farms with the widest margins receive the least support,” she said — so for the 2019 and 2020 program years, the province is “eliminating the reference margin limit and that will address this problem.”

Under what’s billed as the B.C. AgriStability Enhancement Program, B.C. farmers already in AgriStability for 2019 will “automatically” get the increased protection level, the province said, and those not yet enrolled can still enrol for 2020.

There are “no additional enrolment requirements beyond what is normally required to participate,” the province said.

‘Simple solution’

Popham’s announcement comes in the midst of lobbying by farm groups across Canada for changes to the AgriStability program.

Such requests generally call for AgriStability coverage to be adjusted to cover losses starting at 85 per cent of historical reference margins, with no reference margin limits.

Among others, such calls have come from the AGgrowth Coalition of farm groups, which includes the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Grain Growers of Canada, Canadian Canola Growers Association, Canadian Horticultural Council, Grain Farmers of Ontario and National Sheep Network.

Farm groups had hoped to see such an announcement coming out of the ag ministers’ meeting in Ottawa in December; the CFA, for one, described the proposed changes to AgriStability as “a simple, interim solution that can be implemented immediately while longer-term programming changes are considered.”

The requested changes can be made under the current federal/provincial business risk management (BRM) program framework, GGC has said previously.

Noting another ministerial meeting has been scheduled for the summer, the B.C. government said Thursday it’s still working with federal, provincial and territorial partners to make improvements to AgriStability on a nationwide basis. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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