How to qualify for OCHHP funding

By Gary Sliworsky
OMAFRA Rep.

In December the Ontario government announced that it will deliver $150 million in financial assistance to cattle, hogs and horticulture producers. Agricorp will deliver $130 million directly to producers under the Ontario Cattle, Hog and Horticulture Payment (OCHHP).
To be eligible for the OCHHP, producers must meet two requirements:
They must have received a federal Cost of Production (COP) payment and/or an Ontario Cost Recognition Top-up (OCRT) payment.
At least half of their total commodity sales as reported to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 2005 and/or 2006 must have come from any combination of cattle, hogs, or horticulture. The OCHHP will determine eligibility using information from the COP and OCRT payments. Producers who did not receive a COP or OCRT payment are not eligible to receive the OCHHP.
Eligible producers will receive a payment based on their historical allowable net sales (ANS) between 2000 and 2004. This information can be found by dividing Line A by Line B on the federal COP statement.
There are three payment scenarios:
For eligible producers with at least 50 percent of their sales coming from cattle and/or hogs, the payment rate will be 12 percent of their ANS as calculated from their COP statements.
For eligible producers with at least 50 percent of their sales coming from horticulture, the payment rate will be 2 percent of their historical ANS as calculated from their COP statements. This payment rate will apply if the producer also reported sales in cattle and/or hogs.
For producers who require a combination of horticulture and cattle/hogs to meet the 50 percent requirement, the payment rate will be calculated based on the weighted proportion of their sales in each eligible commodity.
Examples
Cattle or hogs - For eligible cattle or hog producers with historical ANS of $100,000, payment is calculated as follows:
12% X $100,000 = $12,000
Horticulture - For eligible horticulture producers with historical ANS of $100,000, payment is calculated as follows:
2% X $100,000 = $2,000
Agricorp will begin delivering payments to producers in February 2008.
For further information, please contact Agricorp - Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: 1-877-838-5144 Fax 519-826-4334 www.agricorp.com
Dates to Remember
Feb. 11 – RR District Regional Abattoir Inc Annual Meeting. 7:00 p.m., Barwick
Feb.14 – Estate Planning Workshop. 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Stratton Millennium Hall. Call 1-888-332-3301 to register.