The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) commends the federal and provincial governments for including 10 more R.M.s into the Canada-Saskatchewan Feed Program.

Both governments announced yesterday (Tues) the R.M.s of Sherwood, Bratt’s Lake, Lajord, Edenwold, Lumsden, South Qu’Appelle, North Qu’Appelle, Bayne, Rosthern, and Britannia were added to the coverage area. 

“We know those areas are dry – we’ve travelled around the province and we can see that they were really suffering from the drought in those areas so it’s good that the federal government does recognize it, I know the province does as well,” said SARM President Ray Orb. “It’s a good news in the sense that they’ll be included in some extra help for livestock producers.”

Orb was also pleased with the application deadline extended to March 15.

“It gives producers extra time to apply for the program for those people that are in those areas. They will hopefully receive some of the help they really need,” Orb said. “We are always an organization that’s lobbying to help our livestock and our farming community as best we can.”

The only areas not eligible under the program are around Wynyard, Humboldt, Prince Alberta, and Meadow Lake, where enough precipitation and moisture was had. Orb says he hasn’t heard from other R.M.s who are outside the eligibility area that want to be included.

“Usually what happens (is) bordering R.M.s will realize that their neighbours are in on it and if they’re in the same condition moisture-wise they’ll want to make sure that they are (in on it) too. We’ve always been telling our members if you’re in that area, please make sure that we know about it, the province knows about it and the federal government as well.”

Any producer who is thinking about applying can find an online application at scic.ca.