OTTAWA, Ontario – Applications for the $400 million payment to help producers address high production costs are now available. Most producers will have their benefits calculated automatically.

Producers who did not participate in the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program for 2004, or who began farming after 2004, must send in an application. CAIS participants who filed in 2004 do not need to apply.

Initial payments will be based on 2.36 percent of a producer’s average net sales of qualifying commodities for 2000 to 2004. The funds are part of a $1 billion federal commitment in Budget 2007 to improve national farm income programs. The remaining $600 million is earmarked to “kick-start” a new producer savings account program once agreement is reached with provinces and territories. Negotiations on the new program are now underway.

Applications can be requested online or downloaded from the program Web site (www.agr.gc.ca/cop) or by calling 1-866-367-8506. The deadline to apply is September 1, 2007.

For producers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and New Brunswick, the program will be delivered by the federal administration. Quebec has expressed an interest in delivering the program and negotiations are currently underway for them to deliver the funds provincially.

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