President David Rolfe says the Canadian Farm Families Options program will provide some assistance to those whose total household income has dropped to a critical level.

Keystone Agricultural Producers is pleased the federal government has launched a program to help the country's lower income farm families.

He notes the $550 million project will provide some help, but the fundamental underlying issues hamstringing agriculture still need to be addressed.


Rolfe's only concern is about the requirements applicants must fill in order to qualify for a payment.


To receive a payment applicants must also commit to completing a farm business assessment, or a skills upgrade within 2 years of their application.


He adds the problem there is the agency responsible for the assessments is already taxed by its current workload let alone adding the potentially 26,000 farmers eligible for the options program.


As for the skills upgrade, Rolfe notes many of the farmers who will qualify for this program are already working long hours to try to keep the farm afloat, and they may not have the time to take on additional training.


To remedy these issues he encourages the feds to ensure adequate resources are in place.