Ontario farmers with funds in their CAIS (Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization) accounts can now access those dollars, news the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) welcomes, says President Ron Bonnett.
The June 10th announcement was made possible when the federal and provincial/territorial governments reached an agreement that will put more than $603 million into the hands of 62,600 Canadian producers. For Ontario’s producers, the amount is $249.3 million. “This money will ease some of the financial issues farmers have faced this spring,” Bonnett says.
“We are grateful our governments recognized the cash flow difficulties farmers have been facing and took action to ease the problem,” Bonnett says.
Ontario producers participating in the CAIS program will be notified by Agricorp of the option to withdraw all remaining funds from their accounts. Producers’ financial institutions will be notified by Agricorp of the options. Producers who want to leave the funds in their CAIS accounts will be required to notify Agricorp of their intentions. Producers planning to withdraw the remaining funds from their account do not need to take any action.
Federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture have directed officials to develop alternatives to the current CAIS deposit in consultation with the industry. Options are to be considered at the annual ministers’ meeting in July. OFA and its commodity partners continue to work with the governments to make CAIS a more useful and practical program, Bonnett said.
Producers with questions should contact Agricorp at 1-877-838-5144.
~Ron Bonnett~
President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture