by KAREN BRIGGS
Rebounding from an all-time low of 5,900 growers enrolled in 2010, Ontario’s Risk Management Program had 8,613 grain and oilseed farmers opt in for 2011.
“2010 was an extension year and not everyone was eligible to participate,” said Stephanie Charest, Agricorp Communications Consultant, “so the numbers were what we expected.
“The numbers for 2011 are pretty much in line with the launch of the program.”
More than 12,000 grain and oilseed farmers signed up for the pilot version of the RMP in 2007, but perceived flaws in the program bred increasing dissatisfaction among growers.
Strong commodities prices have also affected producers’ perceived need for the program.
RMP is similar to an insurance policy, in which farmers pay premiums for coverage to protect them from uncontrollable factors. Ontario’s RMP provides coverage for commodity price volatility or collapse, input cost increases and currency fluctuations. Claims are triggered only if the market price for a commodity falls below the provincial average cost of production.
Agricorp administers the RMP program as well as AgriStability, which is designed to protect producers from large declines in their farming income due to market conditions, production loss, or increased costs of production. AgriStability is cost-shared between the federal and provincial governments; currently only the provincial government backs the RMP. Efforts to obtain the federal government's financial support have been unsuccessful.
Premiums for the RMP were waived in 2011, with all participants enrolled at the 100 per cent coverage level. According to Agricorp’s website, in 2012, the program will undergo significant changes, requiring enrolment in AgriStability (previously optional) and limiting a grower’s ability to switch commodity categories. (Editor's note. This story has been revised.) BF
Comments
They still won't admit that the flaws in RMP are real, not just "perceived" - particularly the fact that since RMP is an advance on the provincial portion of AgriStability, people entitled to both RMP and AgriStability payments in any given year find they've paid premiums for two programs, but get benefits from only one.
Wake up Agricorp, and farm organizations - this isn't a perceived problem, it's a REAL problem, and unless fixed, enrolment in RMP next year could, and should, go almost to zero. In addition, nobody is prepared to admit that even if the clawback problem was fixed, RMP has a poor enough risk/reward ratio to keep most farmers well-away from it.
These are the two reasons, and the only two reasons, why enrolment in RMP dropped by over 50% from 2007 to 2010 - why won't anyone in government, or anyone in any farm organization, admit it?
Furthermore, government paid our RMP fees in 2007, and is doing so again in 2011 - of course enrolment is up. Why would anyone expect otherwise?
As for 2010, some of us declined to enrol in RMP because we were able to figure out, in advance, we'd be paying more in premiums than we could ever possibly receive even in (pre AgriStability claw-back) RMP benefits.
Instead of being the goose that laid the golden egg, RMP is the Thanksgiving turkey farmers would sooner stay hungry than shoot.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Stephen, its you that don't get it.
Farmers will drop out in droves next year and like you said, enrollment will go almost to 0.
That means the farmers can't go back into the program for 3 years and the farmers are saying "we don't want that program"
The government will cancel the support programs. Taxpayers will cheer because it is perceived we whine for money all the time.
The feds will cancel support programs because of "program sabotage".
30,000 farmers in Ontario. Who cares?
The real problem would appear to rest with the oft-repeated claim that RMP was "designed by farmers, for farmers".
If the supposed best and brightest we have, can't/don't/won't realize, and admit, they designed a badly-flawed program, we have only ourselves to blame when things don't work out.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Steven, if you believe that farmers and farm orgs really had much say in the final risk benefit rewards ratio details of the RMP compared to the gov't payout risk ratio developed by gov't number crunchers then you are simply more naive than I thought.
A blind man could see that the RMP clawback feature was unsupportable.
Farmers and especially farm organizations, had oodles of chances to say "NO" to this facet of the program, at any time since 2007, yet didn't, and still aren't. The Grain Farmers of Ontario deserves particular scorn because their Board passed a resolution, in early 2010, calling for the end to this clawback, yet GFO appears to since have done absolutely nothing.
Furthermore, if, as you suggest, farmers and farm organizations didn't really have much "say" in the design of RMP, why aren't they protesting every time somebody claims they did?
A naive person is one who believes the organizations purporting to represent him/her, are doing a responsible job - therefore I am definitely NOT naive.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
The Grain Orgs. deserves heaps more scorn.
They brought forward the calls to audit Agricorp, OFPMC and OMAFRA. They had lots to say but for some reason became silent.
Nothing happened.
Swept under the rug.
The Grain Orgs. and CEO's deserves heaps more scorn.
Ordinary farmers demanded and got AUDIT RESOLUTIONS PASSED AT ANNUAL GFO MEETINGS. The GFO board of directors sat on audits AFRAID AFRAID AFRAID to call to audit Agricorp, OFPMC and OMAFRA, for fear that RMP program would be stopped if farmers demanded audits. RMP is a poor program and we have no audits. It is time to take stable funding from OFA earn their keep,so they wont be afraid to speak up against government
The GFO should be demanding a good qualified person be the new Ontario MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE. We need a minister who will take charge read the briefing books presented by the civil servant then act with accountability working with his civil servant staff to improve agriculture, and when need be demand more better productivity out of OMAFRA staff. Any body remember example Gene Whalen
What are the odds we get a person with no knowledge of agriculture as minister, extremely high!
A KNOWLEGABLE MINISTER THAT WILL BE AN EXAMPLE TO RUN POLICY AND LEGISLATION AND TELL Mcginty to go to his office and but out
The question then is would farmers go off the deep end and or capitalize land purchase cost starting a new cycle?
We all remember Whalen but should also remember John Wise equal as good
Another wake up call
if you opt out of the RMP in 2012 are you not banned from getting back in for 2 years? What are the chance of grain prices not being low in 2013 2014?
What happens is crops prices are in the tank and you are banned out of RMP.
Nice situation to be in
If grain prices go into the "tank", it means that everybody will blow right through RMP, by more than hitting the 85% trigger to become eligible for AgriStability.
Everybody seems to forget that the way RMP is configured, any big payout on RMP will undoubtably also trigger a big AgriStability payment, and with the clawback provision, being in RMP the year grain prices tank, will be worse than useless because you'll lose your RMP benefit, and you will have also wasted your RMP premium.
Simply stated, with the clawback feature, and the non-refundability of your RMP premium, the absolute worst year to be in RMP, is the year grain prices tank.
So, even if I opt out of RMP in 2012 and can't get back in, I'm not worried about a grain price collapse in 2013 because being in RMP, as it is currently configured, wouldn't be of any help anyway.
The only problem is that if I opt out in 2012, and can't get back in for two years, and if then they eliminate the claw-back privision for 2013, I might be a tad out of sorts.
However, the way I look at it, if I pay RMP premiums for 2012, and 2013 amd they don't eliminate the clawback (and there's no reason why they would, because the government is also afraid of a price collapse in 2013, and therefore, eliminating the clawback would cost them too much money) the best I could expect out of RMP if grains prices collapsed in 2013, would be to recoup two years of premiums - and that isn't even likely because of the clawback.
Anyways, Agricorp claims they'll "look" at things after 2012 to see whether eliminating the clawback is appropriate - my guess is that they won't because firstly they'll claim they need to keep it for "consistency", but the real reason will, of course, be that they want to continue to boast about having two programs, but effectively only have to pay for one.
The other reason they'll study, stall, and study the clawback provision as long as they can, is to try to sucker people into staying in RMP in the hopes it will be eliminated - and that will be, of course, when pigs fly.
So, even if the RMP clawback is eliminated, and that is extremely unlikely, the liklihood of recouping two years of RMP premiums in the event of a grains price collapse in 2013, let alone ever actually being "up" money, is still, as far as I can tell, fairly-sketchy.
The big money, in the event of a grain price collapse, clawback or not, will be in AgriStability.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton, ON
Bottom line
Why help farmes with economic help with Risk Management programs when farmers og out and purchase land at $10000 to $ 15000.00 per acre.
On top of that farmers are given big news stories how land prices are at an all time high, the press has rose coloured glasses and dont do any investigative stories
Farmers need to ask the question are we seeing and given the real clear picture of what is happening in the every day world of farmers?
Mr Thompson raises a lot of issues that you would think could be proven true or false . He brought up an issue ten years ago on a program and the farm organizations did nothing, he is doing the same on RMP and the same in action is taking place , but this time the program was so called designed by farmers, but the new wrinkle is where is our farm press, are they doing a fair job on facts?
What kind of a world do we have ? How do we get verifyable truth? Who do we trust?
Will this be modified? Many of questions need to be looked at?
RMP and farm issues were on the back burner of this provincial election everything is about jobs and urban family, rural Ontario is a government liability. It will take another period of hard economic times for farmers to for a final time realize the position of average farmers. Let the games begin.
8,613 grain and oilseed farmers opt in for 2011 doesnt mean much when the GFO brags that there are 28000 member growers,that can also be misleading as not all 28000 growers are not commerical farmers of many acres. The big question should be does this 8613 growers in the 2011 RPM represnt a majority of how many acres of the total grain farmer acreage of Ontario.
Is 8613 growers 20%, 30%,40%, 60%, 75% of total grain acres of Ontario grain farmers.
What % is meaningful, significant to be called a successful program by farmers.
Is this 8613 believable or is it an election boost for the LiberalsÉ
I wonder how many farmers have been enrolled by default and don't know yet?
Next year we have to enroll in ONtrace and there will be many opting out then.
Then locked out for 3 years.
NIce way to sabotage a program.
The farm leaders the farm press all should have known and told farmers sentence by sentence rules of RMP program. If they did not WHY? should they be held accountable ?
They couldn't explain the rules sentence by sentence because the rule book says the rules are going to change.
That sentence is very clear in the book.
The farmers signed a blank contract and the government will fill in the rules as they go along and also gave Agricorp the ability to clawback any money for any reason at any time.
farmers take their grain to commerical grain companies were sam farmers is mixed with jeb farmers allof witch ispiled on top of miss katherine farmers in silo 5
Seems thst it is unlikely you can do individual tracing in this situation so why bwould farmleaders powers to be allow farmers of grain have to enroll into Ontrac? or
Design it so aneasy way to make program fail when farmers wont sign in to Ontrace
This site is gettihg to be informstive
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