Province renews program in time to help with low market prices

© AgMedia Inc.

Ontario Federation of Agriculture president says the program jibes with industry requests for aid

Photo: Bette Jean Crews

Update: Wednesday August 4, 2010 4:42 p.m.

Comments

Larry Cowan 'would rather pay the premium and that prices were high enough that he never get a payout.'

Not me. I would rather we got a respectable price. When prices are low we subsidize the public and then we have to grovel on hands and knees to beg the public to give us back something close to our cost of production.

Why pay a "premium" if you don't want a payout? I think I will keep my premium. At least that is my money in my pocket.

You would think after 7 years of poor progams like rmp the farmleaders would have the talent io know what it takes to get government to move. Treditional lobby and begging is out of date. maybe the united Nations would classiy Ontario grain and livestock farmers as disadvantaged and be low poverty paid souls needing 3rd world status

On or about June 25 the GFO announced the initial payments for 2010 wheat (

This price was largely influenced by the governments comfort level in backing an initial price that had nothing to do with COP, food or feed value, supply and demand or any recognized method of price discovery.

July brought the FPT meetings where the feds in particular again failed to support agriculture and at the same time admitted the programs were not working. Forward 3 wks and the posted bid price doubles, Great! but the buyers, P&H in particular lower basis to a negative number to protect their margins calls.

This is marketing from their perspective but it effectively shifts their financial burden of risk (margin calls) to stay in the market squarely on the producer. At the same time they step out of the market place after limit up/limit down with no posted price.(read as "we are not buying. Our marketing skills still find this too scary") Meanwhile Gillan Weston has not raised the price of a package of cookies 1 cent

As long as Canadian government is not committed to food production with a fair return in an uninhabited, unadulterated market place, farmers can neither take advantage of workable government programs that government admit do not exist, or capture market highs with no bid price.

If the extremes of weather and commodity carryout now prevalent in other parts of the world should prevail here impacting production or future world (grain) shortages, what respect for Canadian production will be shown then or will we start a food ban with noted political players on the list .... Ritz #1

For those not living this and thereby can not understand, please stop speaking for us until the cartoon version that will be available soon.

Sounds like the GFO is incompetent poor management more interested in promoting research over improving true COP with profit for their shareholder farmers . Sooner or later farmers will have no confidence in this GFO

Farmers can only blame themselves for the in action of govt programs, most farmers are more interested in bragging rights of high yields than taking part in the politics of getting profits. Our farm leaders are as useless as a door knob on a tea kettle for profit matters

None of the people in the above article seem prepared to admit that RMP benefits are clawed back by Agristability. Although there's not a perfect relationship, if a farmer qualifies for RMP, there's also an increased chance he/she qualifies for AgriStability.

Therefore, if a farmer is in RMP, there's a financial dis-incentive to be in AgriStability, if for no other reason than the fact that he/she's paying premiums to both programs, but the claw-back provision effectively means he/she's only going to get a benefit from one.

Is there really any Government programs or are programs really self financed by producers? Are these really two parallel insurance policies and if so why are they tied together to be clawed back? Where else are separate insurance policies contracts tied together where both premium payments are paid on time and in advance?

This is about like having car insurance denied or worse yet clawed back if there is house insurance. The insurance industry is highly regulated Why is this government program claw back not under investigation?

I think the first post is a little deceiving about the claw-back.

RMP is about grain pricing calculated over a period of time. It deals with the value of a bushel of grain. Agri-stability is about guaranteeing whole farm income.

If a farmer receives RMP it's deemed farm income and taken into account when Agri-stability is calculated. In the pilot program of RMP, it stipulated that farmers had to enroll in Agri-stability to qualify therefore ensured the province's limitation of pay-out.

Remember that Leona returned $82M of unused RMP money to Queen's Park early this year. Not having a ageement with the feds helped the provincial coffers in a big way because RMP piggy-backed on the Agri-Sweet programs.

The extended RMP does not require farmer's to enroll in agri-stability.

There are major flaws with the RMP and Agri-stability links the GFO will not address.

RMP is for grains farmers. If a grain farmer produces other commodities, Agri-stability works against them.

RMP is income that must be declared the year the check is issued.

This is a problem with farmers that do not have calender year-ends. RMP payments on one crop year are reflect on another fiscal year that affects Agri-stability eligibility. RMP payments are not harmonized with the tax calculations which is another way the government gets their money back.

RMP has a ton of dirty secrets.

Government promotes the nonsense that a clawback is necessary to avoid what they call "double-dipping" which, by definition, is when you pay once and benefit twice. The RMP clawback privision in AgriStability is the exact opposite of double dipping because you pay twice and benefit only once.

For example, when I received my 2009 AgriStability payment, my RMP benefits for 2009 were clawed back, thereby causing me to completely forfeit what I paid in premiums to get that RMP money in the first place. To be fair about the clawback, I should have had my RMP premium refunded, but it disappeared into a black hole, never to be seen again.

The bigger, and far-dirtier, secret about RMP and AgriStability, is that a fully-funded RMP with the clawback provision, will cause a stampede to get out of AgriStability, and rightly so.

The GFO know about the double-billing and the province is making money off the backs of farmers.

If the RMP is clawed back in Agri-Stability then the province should do the right thing and return the RMP fees to the farmers.

RMP is not a price insurance program. It's a money grab for the province.

RMP is a devious tax.

It would be interesting to know actual numbers of farmers in the RMP program that continue to be in it since 2007 with a 40 persent provincial funding. Farmers are dreaming if they think this new continued progarm is of much use after the continued lobby by farm organizations since 2002 . The GFO needs to show how many are in in the progarm out of 20 to 28000 producers. Farmers are being kept in the dark by GFO leadership as usual, What is worse is if the conservatives form the new govt in Ontario they wont do any better for farmers. Farmers are being played as great producers of food , fools to produce with low to no profit in most cases their children leave the farms to make a living as adults in a non agriculural profession or agribusiness. A cheap Canadian food policy supported by farmwes.

One has to wonder what the pay off is for our Farm Leadership

There is no problem in farming, farmers continue to buy new big shinny equipment costing hundereds of thounsands of dollars while also purchasing expense $8000 plus land per acre or paying high cost rent.
Then on top of that some drive expensive diesel pickups. period

I will think of you today as I ride my highly experienced 1975 4230 John Deere with just under 19000 hrs. "Dumb ass" (please read and interpret as an uninformed non verbal donkey that speaks foolish) I am sure you will be driving a gas 1/2 ton, 1/2 the age and 1/4 the hrs.

Eventually your car and my tractor will have to be replaced at a cost! .... just as I will too.

You bit hook line and sinker

Many farmers are in RMP a majority or minority

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