Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau is pushing for a clear answer from the three prairie provinces on agristability.

She wants to eliminate the reference margin limit and boost the compensation rate to 80 percent.

Bibeau says it has been 110 days since she proposed eliminating the reference margin and boosting the compensation rate to 80 percent, providing an additional payout of 50 percent or 170-million-dollars across Canada.

The prairies are worried about the added cost but Bibeau says the Agristability enrollment deadline of April 30th is fast approaching and she needs an answer.

Bibeau is preparing to convene an agriculture ministers meeting in the next week or two, but wants a clear decision on the agristability enhancements.

Agriculture minister David Marit says his last conversation with Minister Bibeau was on January 29th, 2021, when he once again reiterated Saskatchewan’s request for a follow-up meeting of federal and provincial ministers of Agriculture.

Marit says Saskatchewan is one of the provinces that has been asking for a follow-up meeting.

He says it is nice to see after all this time that the federal Minister is finally willing to bring her provincial and territorial colleagues back to the table to complete this important discussion on enhancements to AgriStability.

The chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, Arnold Balicki, has supported the proposed enhancements to agristability and welcomes another meeting.

Balicki says the enhancements would provide significant benefit to cow-calf producers.

APAS says the proposed changes to a 2,000 acre grain farm in Saskatchewan would mean a jump for last year from $4,000 to almost $75,000.