Ontario has rolled out a new on-farm biosecurity support program for the province’s poultry farmers.
The new program, announced Thursday, will provide funding to help producers set up or improve biosecurity measures on their farms, based on the National Avian On-Farm Biosecurity Standard.
The national standard is billed as “a comprehensive tool designed to identify a range of measures intended to prevent disease-causing agents from entering, spreading within a farm or escaping from a premises housing poultry.”
Before producers can access cost-share funding under the farm biosecurity program (FBP), they’ll have to complete a FBP workshop and “self-assessment exercise” to identify their current level of biosecurity and develop plans to adopt new and/or additional measures as per the new standard.
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The FBP includes cost-share opportunities to help farmers set up the biosecurity projects identified in their action plans. Those cost-share funds will be available on a first-come, first-served basis up to the maximum available annual funds for each year of the program, the province said.
Funding for Ontario’s FBP is to be budgeted from a larger $9.3 million biosecurity investment, via the federal/provincial Growing Forward farm policy funding framework.
The province and Ottawa on Thursday also announced a food safety and traceability education program, to help Ontario organizations develop and deliver “educational and outreach” programs to promote best practices to Ontario producers and processors.
Funding for that program will be distributed at the sector level and delivered by Ontario’s Agricultural Adaptation Council.
“This investment will help farmers build new trade opportunities and boost their bottom line and Canada’s economy,” southern Ontario MP Dave Van Kesteren said in a release Thursday announcing both programs.
