AAFC extends AgriStability deadline

Apr 27, 2020

Canadian farmers have until July 3 to enrol

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Canadian farmers have more time to enrol in a federal business risk management program.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) announced it is extending the deadline for producers to enrol in the AgriStability program to July 3 without penalty.

The previous enrolment deadline was April 30.

The extension highlights the importance of the enrolment flexibility as federal, provincial and territorial governments needed to approve it.

Moving the deadline into July “will enable the program to help more farmers manage the impact of current market disruptions, increased expenses, and production challenges facing many farm operations,” AAFC said in its April 17 release.

About 51,000 Canadian farmers enrolled in the program in 2017, AAFC data from April 2019 indicates.

With the application extension in place, officials are urging farmers to think about signing up for the program.

“This extension will give more producers additional time to consider their risk management needs during this period of uncertainty,” David Marit, Saskatchewan’s minister of agriculture, said in an April 20 statement. “We understand the challenges the Saskatchewan agriculture industry is facing, and I encourage producers to consider the AgriStability program.”

Farms.com has reached out to Canadian farm organizations for comment on the enrolment extension.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.