Last week, local farmers had a chance to get a better understanding of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands’ AgriStability program.
Bruce Hilder, AgriStability representative from the ministry, said that there is a lot of information about the program that hasn’t been getting to the farmers.
He said that a lot of the farmers he speaks to already have misconceptions about the program, with thoughts that AgriStability doesn’t work for them.
“But it does work for them if they report it properly,” Hilder said. “What’s caused the problem is the lack of information,”
AgriStability allows farmers to have some stability in the event of unforeseen events that negatively affect the farm, such as a drought.
Hilder was touring around the region to promote awareness of the program to farmers.
His office in Oliver, B.C. is a regional office covering the Boundary, the East Kootenay and Similkameen regions.
This is the first year for the office in Oliver to be covering the area.
Hilder hopes the tour will help highlight the features of the program.
“If they lose income through no fault of their own, drought, hail, stuff like that,” he says. “Crop insurance just covers their production loss, this really makes up for the income that they’re losing.”
The questions that were most frequently asked to Hilder usually range from what the benefits are to being included in the program, misinformation about what needs to be filed not and where it has to go for proper procedure.
For more information on the AgriStability program contact Bruce Hilder at Bruce.Hilder@gov.bc.ca or 250-498-5252.