New disaster relief program for Saskatchewan farmers

Saskatchewan producers have 98 per cent of the crop in the ground. While it’s not 100 per cent, farmers across the province are likely done seeding this year.

According to this week’s crop report, small portions of fields were too wet to seed in the east half of the province and will likely remain unseeded this season.

With recent rainfall, several areas across the province have reported minor to severe flooding.

“While the rainfall caused damage in some areas, it was still very welcome by those who were desperately in need of moisture,” the release said.

For those who have received damage, however, help may be on the way. The province announced a new supplemental relief program to aid agricultural producers.

“We recognize the impact these storms have had on Saskatchewan’s agricultural producers, especially those who have lost livestock as a result,” said Christine Tell, the Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister. “This supplemental initiative will help Saskatchewan producers who did not originally qualify for support under the existing program.”

The new program will assist those with more than $2 million in gross revenues who meet the definition of a small business, and will be available to producers who were affected by disasters that occurred during the month of April 2022.

The province says this new relief program will help agricultural operations impacted by extreme weather events this spring, but who did not qualify under the original Provincial Disaster Assistance Program revenue restrictions.

“In Saskatchewan it is reasonable for a family run farming operation to exceed this threshold in gross annual revenues, but not have the capacity to recover without government assistance,” the province said.