Is Ontario’s Risk Management Program a good deal?

Farmers are divided, some saying that the potential claw-back by the federal AgriStability program negates its value


by DON STONEMAN

Western Ontario cash crop farmers Steve Thompson and Steve Twynstra both signed on to the province’s new Risk Management Program for grains and oilseeds before the mid-September deadline. There’s no downside, they agree, since the province is paying the tab on premiums for the first year of the program, announced on April 1.

Neither farmer expects a payout this year when crop prices are buoyant. But that’s where the two diverge.

Better Farming - October 2011