Saskatchewan has picked up federal government approval to start a targeted advance program (TAP) for hog farmers under the AgriStability program.
TAP payments will provide hog producers with 60 per cent of their estimated 2007 benefit under AgriStability, the program that replaces the Canadian Ag Income Stabilization (CAIS) program’s coverage for margin declines of over 15 per cent.
Eligible farmers will be notified by letter the week of Jan. 21 of the amount of advance to which they’re entitled for 2007. A producer wanting a TAP payment must sign and return the letter by March 31, the province said.
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The amount of a producer’s TAP advance will be based on information already submitted to the AgriStability program administration, relating to his or her 2006 CAIS application.
Provincial governments can request federal approval for TAPs “in response to extreme conditions such as natural disasters and price collapse which affect an entire industry or sector,” according to a provincial release Thursday.
Provincial Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud said in Thursday’s release that help for hog farmers is “so desperately needed in this province.”
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, a Saskatchewan MP, said the TAP would help the government “get money into the hands of producers as quickly as possible.”
