Producers are being reminded that the first deadline for the 2016 AgriStability program is coming up quickly.

September 30th is the deadline for farmers to submit their program forms to Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation.

Waren Ames is the SCIC’s manager of policy for the AgriStability Program and says they have about 13,300 participants enrolled in the program.

"We paid out probably just under the 18 million dollars so far, but we only have a third maybe a little bit better than that of total applications in the door," Ames said. "We expect that number to get higher as we get more applications."

Any 2016 program forms received after the September 30th deadline are subject to a $500 per month penalty.

Ames notes that 2016 was a challenging year with the drop in cattle prices and the poor harvest conditions that impacted the yield and quality and resulted in a large amount of grain being left out over the winter.

"Poor fall harvest conditions, delayed-harvest, would have impacted yields and quality," said Ames. A large amount of grain was left out over the winter, so that got harvested and the challenge of harvesting that in the spring but again impacting yield and quality. Those are all things that impact the program margin for the producer.

Producers can submit the forms at their local Crop Insurance Office or online using AgConnect.