New Study Highlights Economic Impact and Funding Shortfall of Ontario's RMP Program

The Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition (OASC) has announced the release of a new study, Evaluation of the Impact of the Risk Management Program/Self-Directed Risk Management Program on Ontario Farmers and the Economy, undertaken by Harry Cummings and Associates and Agri-Metrics Consulting.  The study examined the economic impact that Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) and Self-Directed Risk Management Program (SDRM) have on Ontario farms, farm production and the broader Ontario economy.
 
Highlights of the study include:
Every dollar spent on RMP/SDRM leads to $2.01 - $3.60 return on investment. In 2020, this led to an increase in economic output of between $282.6 million and $506.2 million.
RMP/SDRM helps support more than 47,000 full-time, part-time, and seasonal jobs.
More than 95% of participating farmers agree that not having access to this program would negatively impact their farm operations.
RMP/SDRM support allows farmers to mitigate input cost volatility, and enables many participating farmers to increase their investments in innovation, equipment and labour.
On average for the 2016 - 2020 years, program funding only covered 40.4% of calculated insurance benefits for participating farmers due to the current funding cap.