WESTERN PRODUCER — Saskatchewan has signed its bilateral agreement on farm supports with Ottawa and announced its strategic initiatives program for the next five years.
Agriculture minister David Marit, with federal rural economic development minister Gudie Hutchings, announced the $485 million spending plans under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership March 20. It takes effect April 1 and represents the non-business risk management portion of the policy framework.
About $89.4 million will be spent each year, compared to $71.2 million per year in the last agreement.
“It’s a 25 percent increase over the last five years,” Marit said.
Half of that increase goes toward the new Resilient Agriculture Landscapes Program and the other half is spread among the other initiatives.
“It’s to look at water quality, soil health and biodiversity, and we’ll have some overlap,” he said of RALP, which focuses largely on livestock.
RALP will help producers through three best management practices: land use, grazing management and livestock stewardship. There is also a program to help intensive hog operations reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
There is flexibility within the programs to move money around if needed, said Marit. There are no huge changes to other programs as they existed over the last five years, he added.
The popular Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program remains, with an increased funding cap of $75,000. It will now include small dams under 2.5 metres and a maximum of $20,000 rebate on power installation and hook-up, including solar and wind options.
Marit said assistance with power costs was the main issue raised during consultations on what the program should include.
There will also be a larger per acre payment available under the Irrigation Development Program as it rises from $1,320 to $1,675, and the Irrigation Efficiency Program now includes subsurface irrigation.
Under the Saskatchewan Lean Improvements in Manufacturing program, the funding cap has risen from $500,000 to $750,000, depending on project size.
Full details and application forms will be available on the government website in the next few weeks.
Broadly, the suite of programs includes five priority areas: building sector capacity, growth and competitiveness, $176.6 million; climate change and environment, $53.4 million; resiliency and public trust, $40.2 million; market development and trade, $2 million; and science, research and innovation, $175 million.
The federal government contributes 60 cents of each dollar and the province, 40 cents.
An additional $37.8 million over five years will support national activities through AgriMarketing and AgriAssurance.
Federal programs offered through Sustainable CAP are already open for application.
In total, Sustainable CAP will provide $3.5 billion to producers across the country until March 31, 2028. Ottawa solely funds $1 billion of that and the rest is cost-shared with provinces.
