Farmers and ranchers should see more consistency and some relief as a result of recent changes to the Provincial Sales Tax regulations.

Effective April 1, 2022, new PST exemptions were made through regulation changes that will benefit farmers and the agriculture industry. 

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer says after speaking with agricultural organizations they heard concerns that the PST was inconsistently being applied to farming and agricultural activity.

"The changes to the PST regulations will be more equitable, consistent and protect farmers against perceived 'PST creep' in farming activity."

The new PST  exemptions include:

- prefabricated wind breaker panels for use in the protection and handling of livestock
- insulators for electrified livestock fences
- certain farm equipment attached to a registered vehicle
- on-farm dugout excavation and for trenching (in specific circumstances related to farming)

Additionally, it was clarified that the following products are also exempt from PST and are retroactive to April 1, 2016:

- water storage tanks used in spraying or irrigating crops
- storage tanks for weed control chemicals, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, liquid fertilizer
- adjuvants that improve their efficacy or application 
- portable seed cleaners used on-farm by farmers in preparing their crop for storage or market (farmers in the business of seed cleaning must pay PST on their seed cleaning equipment)
- farm tractors 

The estimated, annual cost of these changes is about $1 million. 

The Ministry of Finance is also beginning discussions about modernizing the agriculture and farming section of PST legislation, to potentially be considered in future budgets.