Assistance plan falls short, rural producers say

The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP) will now provide financial assistance to those affected by a massive wildfire in the province’s southwest this fall, but some are saying it doesn’t go far enough.

Eligible applicants can receive up to a maximum of $30,000 to help with extraordinary feeding costs, transportation costs associated with those feeding costs and/or pasture rentals starting from the date of the fire and ending “when usual winter feeding begins.”

“We ... believe that they should at the very least have PDAP coverage until they have spring grazing available to them,” said Ray Orb, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM).

Orb said ranchers, particularly in the areas affected by the fire that devastated 34,000 hectares of land, often stockpile pastureland to feed their cattle through the winter — many of those stockpiles were lost during the fire.

SARM announced it would lobby the provincial government to provide assistance for fire losses through PDAP in late October, and Orb said the change is a step in the right direction, but there will still be challenges for producers if PDAP funding is cut off at the beginning of winter feeding.

Announced by the Ministry of Government Relations on Wednesday, the news comes after consultations with industry stakeholders.

“Typically PDAP does not provide assistance for wildfire losses, because most fire losses are insurable,” Minister Larry Doke said in a news release.

“However, tame and native grazing lands are not insurable,” he said.

“This adjustment will fill that gap and provide Saskatchewan producers with additional peace of mind, and help ensure that operations affected by wildfire can recover sooner.”

Damage to actual pasture land along with any insurable losses, including death or illness of livestock, fences, buildings or damaged bales are not eligible, and if insurance or other programs become available in the future, PDAP assistance for wildfire loss will be discontinued.

Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said the funding is a positive move, but only time will tell how beneficial it will end up being.

“The devil’s always going to be in the details with something like this,” said Lewis. “It will be interesting to see how many producers are actually able to utilize it.”

According to a PDAP fact sheet, in order to be eligible for assistance, damage must have occurred in a rural municipality that has been designated as eligible for PDAP assistance, the annual gross revenues for the agricultural operation must be at least $4,000, but not more than $2 million, 2016 income must show income from livestock and the claimant must be the titled owner of the damaged pasture land.

Lewis said the funding time frame is also a concern for APAS, but recognized PDAP was never designed for situations like wildfires.

“They’ll get the five or six weeks since the fire till now ... but it doesn’t really help them for feeding their cattle for the rest of the winter,” said Lewis.

He hopes the government will carefully monitor who the funding helps and identify other measures that could be taken to help those producers that don’t fit into the guidelines.

Last month, APAS called on the government to provide assistance on par with B.C. during massive wildfires in the provinces interior back in July.

Additional information on assistance for wildfire loss through PDAP can be found at saskatchewan.ca/PDAP.

It doesn’t really help them for feeding their cattle for the rest of the winter.