Provincial agriculture minister Daryl Harrison said last week he had heard from cattle organizations about the need for more help.

The federal government compensates producers for the loss of their animals, up to maximum amounts set by regulations, but not for cleaning and disinfection of their premises that would allow them to get back in business.

The AgriRecovery framework can be used to help producers with the extraordinary costs of various natural disasters.

Harrison said a formal request had not yet been made to Ottawa, but he is considering it.

Cattle leaders said they hoped that would come soon.

Lost genetic advancement

Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association president Jeff Yorga said the organization supports using the AgriRecovery framework to help producers with cleaning and disinfection but said the issue is bigger than that.

“This doesn’t bring back hundreds of years of genetic advancement, right?” he said after the SSGA annual meeting.

“There’s no way to fix that.”

Yorga said the process surrounding the discovery of bovine TB, depopulation and disinfection takes too long. He said it shouldn’t take months to do this, as it does now.

In the most recent case, near Melville, the positive test was found at the end of November 2024 but the herd wasn’t depopulated until later in the winter.

Saskatchewan Cattle Association chair Chad Ross said the organization has written to the minister asking for more help.

“Minister Harrison knows that these producers are taking some emotional and financial hardships to keep our industry business as usual for the rest of us and so they need support,” he said.

AgriRecovery used in previous TB outbreaks

Ross said the Canadian Cattle Association is also involved at the federal level.

AgriRecovery has been triggered in previous bovine TB outbreaks.

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, as of June 5 there were 25 cases of bovine TB confirmed in the Saskatchewan herd of origin and the agency has identified higher risk associated herds.

These include seven lifeline herds, or herds traced from the infected animal; three have been released from quarantine.

There are also 32 trace-out herds, or herds that obtained animals from the infected herd. Eight of those have been released from quarantine.

CFIA is still identifying and preparing to test herds that provided animals to the herd of origin, contact herds that shared a fence line or may have commingled with the infected herd, and herds within five kilometres of the infected herd.

At the SSGA annual meeting last week, members passed several resolutions asking for better control of wildlife populations, particularly elk. Many think the disease may have come from wildlife that get into feed meant for cattle.

The resolutions included distributing hunting tags to landowners, allowing landowners outfitting opportunities and allowing open archery seasons.

CFIA has said there is no evidence that the bovine TB was transmitted to cattle from elk. Wildlife testing is done in co-operation with hunters who submit animals for testing, but producers want more rigorous requirements.

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“Potato farmers in New Brunswick work tirelessly to produce their crops, but excessive moisture last year had a direct impact on their operations,” said federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay in a news release today.

“This joint AgriRecovery initiative will provide targeted support to the sector, helping farmers get back on their feet so they can keep producing the top-quality products they’re known for.”

The initiative will compensate eligible producers for extraordinary costs related to growing, harvesting, storage or disposal of last year’s potato crop.

Summer of 2023 was “one of the wettest summers on recent record,” said New Brunswick’s Agriculture Minister Margaret Johnson.

“The financial impact on New Brunswick potato growers was significant,” Johnson said. “The new AgriRecovery initiative for potato growers will provide much-needed help. This is an important response to what the industry has asked for and a critical step in ensuring the sector is able to remain resilient.”

AgriRecovery is an ad hoc disaster relief framework for farmers. Program funding is cost-shared between the federal and provincial governments.

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Federal minister Lawrence MacAulay and his Yukon counterpart, John Streicker, said during the closing news conference they held productive meetings on a wide number of topics.

However, there was no mention of changes to the capital gains inclusion rate, which at least two ministers said they raised and that have drawn criticism throughout the agricultural sector.

Both Saskatchewan minister David Marit and Alberta’s R.J. Sigurdson said they found support among their colleagues in that they agree the changes are harmful.

“The provinces are aligned,” Marit said during an interview after the meeting.

Ministers want to adjust both AgriRecovery and AgriStability, and Striecker said they would advance work on proposals at their next ministerial meeting.

MacAulay acknowledged that payments through AgriRecovery take too long.

“We want to make sure we get the money into the pockets of the farmers and ranchers quicker than we have been,” he said.

Streicker added it’s not productive to have to “fire up” a specialized program each time there is a natural disaster.

“We’re looking for something that will be more predictable across the board,” he said.

Ministers also agreed to advance the pesticide working group action plan so that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency makes decisions based on evidence.

Further discussions included preparedness for African swine fever, avian influenza in dairy cattle, trade and accelerating work on specified risk material regulations that currently put Canadian cattle producers at a disadvantage to their American counterparts.

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“Last year was a tough one for Alberta’s livestock producers and the expansion of this AgriRecovery initiative means that more producers can receive critical support for their breeding herds,” said Darryl Kay, CEO of the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation in a news release today.

The 2023 Canada-Alberta Drought Livestock Assistance initiative, funded through the AgriRecovery framework by the federal and provincial governments, offers payments of up to $150 per head to livestock producers who have 15 or more animals per type of livestock, and have altered usual grazing practices for more than 21 days due to drought.

Funding will open for the new regions on January 29, with a deadline of Feb. 22. Extraordinary costs can be incurred until March 31, the release said.

Additionally, livestock farmers and ranchers in those areas may be eligible for the 2023 Livestock Tax Deferral, which allows farmers who sell part of their breeding herd due to drought to defer a portion of the sale proceeds to the next year, as per the Government of Canada’s website.

The eligible regions now stretch from the province’s southern border to an area around Edmonton, with cutouts around Jasper National Park and Hinton in the west. The area around Grand Prairie is also eligible along with municipalities on the western half of the province, stretching to the north border.

The province is in the throes of what has been called a once-in-a-generation drought. In late October, the Canadian and Alberta governments opened applications for the livestock assistance program, promising up to $165 million in aid.

Alberta’s woes have continued into the winter. At a recent event in Lethbridge, Dennis Matis, Oldman basin infrastructure manager with Alberta Agriculture, warned that snowpack in the mountains–vital to irrigation in southern Alberta–is among the lowest seen in a generation.

He estimated that they’ve seen lower than normal water levels every year since 2015.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AgCanada. She writes from southeast Manitoba.

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The feds on Friday announced their 60 per cent, or $219 million, share of AgriRecovery program funding for the three westernmost provinces.

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet with farmers and producers from across Western Canada and they’ve shared just how challenging this growing season has been for their operations,” federal Ag Minister Lawrence MacAulay said in a release.

Program details are still being worked out, the Alberta government said, but its federal-provincial program will see livestock producers with grazing animals able to apply for financial support to cover losses incurred in managing and maintaining breeding herds. Eligible producers could access up to $150 per head for breeding animals, the province said.

In Saskatchewan, the program will cover 70 per cent of extraordinary costs related to feed and freight incurred after May 1, 2023 through to the application deadline of March 1, 2024 with initial payments of up to $150 per head to eligible producers to help maintain the breeding herd in the drought regions, with additional payments to be based on availability of funding. The province had already committed up to $70 million toward its share of AgriRecovery funds.

In B.C., farmers will be able to seek up to 70 per cent support for transportation costs to move livestock to feed and water through the recovery period, and for feed testing for additionally purchased forage, plus support of up to $160 per animal for “extraordinary replacement costs” where breeding herds were downsized.

In areas of B.C. where Crown range or pasture were lost due to wildfire, supports will also be offered for alternative grazing requirements, with up to $80 per head to re-establish safe winter-feeding facilities and general cleanup; and up to 70 per cent of extraordinary wildfire-related costs for veterinary services, mustering of livestock, mortality of breeding animals, uninsurable irrigation and infrastructure repairs, labour costs to repair private fences; and reseeding and re-establishing tame forage.

Also, up to 70 per cent of the extraordinary costs will also be covered for B.C. beekeepers and honey producers to replace lost colonies, apiaries and equipment, the province said.

More details to come.

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Application forms are expected to be available via Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC) “in the coming days” for funding “to help offset extraordinary costs of feeding livestock to maintain the breeding herd in Saskatchewan.”

Precipitation has remained well below normal in much of Saskatchewan, particularly in western regions, contributing to “a substantial moisture deficit and hindering recovery of pasture and forage ranges,” the province said.

The provincial funding pledged Monday will provide eligible producers with up to $80 per head “as soon as possible” to maintain breeding stock for beef cattle, bison, horse, elk, deer, sheep and goats. SCIC, on its website, said more information “will be available in the coming weeks.”

The funding will be available based on receipts or appropriate documentation for “extraordinary expenses for the purchase of feed or transportation of feed or livestock,” the province said in its release Monday.

Meanwhile, the province said, it “continues to work quickly with the federal government to jointly examine how AgriRecovery could help respond.”

For its part, the federal government said in a separate release Monday that work with drought-affected provinces to finalize AgriRecovery programming is “urgently progressing,” and that it’s already “worked quickly” with Saskatchewan as well as Alberta and British Columbia on joint AgriRecovery assessments.

The feds on Monday announced their initial list of areas eligible for the livestock tax deferral provision for 2023, including 96 RMs and other municipalities in western Saskatchewan.

“We appreciate the province stepping up and providing their portion of the AgriRecovery payment,” Keith Day, board chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, said in the province’s release Monday. “We look forward to a similar announcement from the federal government to provide their funding to ensure our producers get the help they need through these challenging times.”

“We are confident that the federal government is working together with the province to assess how they can provide additional support through AgriRecovery and look forward to seeing what that much-needed assistance will be,” Ray Orb, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, said in the same release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer on Wednesday released her 2022-23 budget with $17.6 billion in expenditures on $17.2 billion in revenues, for an expected deficit of $463 million, well down from the province’s forecast deficit of $2.185 billion for 2021-22.

The province said its budgetary appropriations and expenses for the agriculture ministry come in at $462.4 million, up 19.5 per cent from 2021-22, on “strong 2022-23 crop insurance program and record agriculture research funding.”

The 2022-23 budget’s broader agriculture-themed expenditures come in at $1.04 billion, up 18.3 per cent from the 2021-22 budget of $879.3 million, primarily due to “higher projected crop insurance indemnities as a result of higher crop prices, as well as higher reinsurance premiums.”

However, that estimate is well down from the province’s latest forecast for those 2021-22 ag-themed expenditures, at $3.19 billion, due mainly to last year’s drought-related crop insurance payouts and AgriRecovery program costs.

New line items relating to agriculture this year include $475,000 to set up a new Crown corporation, to be called the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corp.

The new Crown is expected to offer up to $75 million in loan guarantees on private-sector lending to Indigenous communities and organizations for investments into “natural resource and value-added agriculture projects,” the province said.

The province will also further backstop major value-added ag projects through “enhancement” of the Saskatchewan Value-added Agriculture Incentive (SVAI), a 15 per cent tax credit in place since 2018 on capital expenditures of at least $10 million toward newly constructed or expanded value-added ag facilities.

Retroactive to 2018, eligible projects will still get the 15 per cent rebate on the portion of a project’s expenditures up to $400 million, but could also get 30 per cent on the portion between $400 million and $600 million, and 40 per cent on the portion in excess of $600 million. The dollar value of the tax credit will be capped at $250 million.

Examples of qualifying projects include canola crush facilities, pea protein processors, oat milling operations, malt producing operations, and cannabis oil facilities, the province said.

The SVAI and other incentives are “key to Saskatchewan’s competitiveness, attracting private investment from global companies like BHP, Richardson International, Viterra, Ceres Global Ag, Cargill, Federated Co-operatives, AGT Foods, Paper Excellence and Red Leaf Pulp,” the province said Wednesday.

The province on Wednesday also noted that starting April 1 this year, certain “clarifications” will made to provincial sales tax (PST) related to farming and agriculture activities — for example, confirming a PST exemption for the “on-farm digging of dugouts.”

Revenues

On the taxation side of the ledger, the province announced Wednesday it will make “minor changes” to its education property tax (EPT) mill rates for this budget year, “asking residential (and) agricultural as well as commercial and resource property owners to pay slightly more EPT on average.”

For agricultural properties, that 2022 EPT mill rate will rise to 1.42 from 1.36, while residential property EPT mill rates will rise to 4.54 from 4.46.

Harpauer said Wednesday the province’s improved revenue forecast is based on increased revenue from taxes at $8.1 billion, up $850 million from 2021-22 — but also on non-renewable resource revenue at $2.9 billion, up by $1.6 billion from 2021-22.

That increased resource revenue, she said, is “largely due to higher potash and oil price forecasts, which is the result of stronger than expected global demand.”

While crude oil values have been on an upslope for months, they recently leaped higher following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as economic sanctions imposed by other countries limit Russia’s involvement in energy markets.

Potash prices have also climbed due to fresh sanctions limiting exports from both Russia and Belarus, the world’s No. 2 and 3 potash-producing countries behind Canada.

“It’s too soon to tell if oil prices will remain high for an extended period and what impact that could have on revenues,” Harpauer said, adding that “because resource prices are so volatile, our government has set a goal of reducing our reliance on resource revenues.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Provincial Agriculture Minister Lana Popham and her federal counterpart Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced cost-shared funding of $228 million for the Canada-B.C. Flood Recovery for Food Security Program, which is now taking applications.

That includes funding via AgriRecovery, the disaster relief segment of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership funding framework. AgriRecovery is a 60-40 federal-provincial program provided where needed to help farmers cover “extraordinary costs” borne in a natural disaster. A similar AgriRecovery program was rolled out in September in response to drought and wildfire damage in the province.

Heavy rains and flooding in mid-November in the province’s south swamped farms and created mudslides that killed four people, caused billions of dollars in damages and temporarily cut off road and rail access to Vancouver from points east.

The federal government has already separately budgeted about $5 billion through its Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) to help cover non-farm-related losses from the flood damages in the region. Funding was previously made available to livestock producers to help cover immediate feed costs.

Flood damages in the farm sector alone are believed to include more than 1,100 farms, over 35,000 acres and 2.5 million head of livestock, in areas ranging from the Sumas Prairie at Abbotsford east and northeast to Merritt and Princeton. Farm-related losses alone are estimated at about $285 million.

In the case of the flood recovery program announced Monday, funding is to go to cover farmers’ “extraordinary expenses from uninsurable damages” not already covered by other programs. Costs covered under the new program would include:

• cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, water and waste systems, and returning flood-impacted land and buildings to “a safe environment for agricultural production;”
• repair of uninsurable “essential” farm infrastructure and equipment plus “reasonable” repair of on-farm structures such as livestock fences and drainage ditches, as well as rental of temporary production facilities or pastures where needed;
• replacement feed and other animal welfare costs including livestock transportation and veterinary care for injured animals; deadstock disposal for animals killed in the flooding; support for destroyed beehives and colonies; and
• loss of perennial plants not raised for resale, such as blueberry plants.

Popham said funding may also be available to help remediate farmland contaminated by floodwaters.

The province said it will deliver the Flood Recovery for Food Security Program with a combination of AgriRecovery and DFAA funding. AgriRecovery will focus on larger farms, with annual sales over $2 million, providing up to 70 per cent compensation for eligible costs.

Farms with less than $2 million in annual revenue, meanwhile, would be eligible for up to 90 per cent compensation, for which the province would seek reimbursement through the DFAA.

Farmers who plan to apply for funding under the program but have already started work and incurred eligible expenses are advised to keep receipts, track hours of work involved and take pictures documenting damage and repairs.

Popham, speaking along with Bibeau at a press briefing Monday, said farmers who had already applied separately for disaster financial assistance before now can expect to be contacted by the ag ministry; others may now start applying through the new program.

Popham described November’s flooding as “the most impactful agricultural disaster ever in our province, resulting in profound losses” for producers.

“We’ve worked closely with farmers and farming organizations to make sure we have a comprehensive response that will support their recovery, help them get their farms back in production, and continue our collective efforts to build a resilient food system and food economy in B.C.”

Affected farmers enrolled in the federal/provincial AgriInsurance (crop insurance) program are also advised to contact the provincial ag ministry to open claims if they’ve not already done so.

Farmers also still have time to apply for the AgriStability income stabilization program for the 2021 program year, and can seek interim payments under that program, the province said Monday. That program may also help farmers cover losses in stored crops, nursery plants and livestock. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Canada-Ontario Transported Feed AgriRecovery Initiative is now accepting applications until November 1, 2021 and will provide emergency support to producers who are incurring extraordinary costs to feed livestock due to drought conditions in the Kenora, Rainy River and Thunder Bay regions. The maximum funding available per applicant is $220 per head of cattle. Other livestock species such as bison, elk, equine, alpacas, llamas, deer, sheep and goat are eligible as well. Funding will be provided in two payments to help farmers address both immediate costs and those during the winter.

The Province announced last month that it would provide up to $5 million through its provincial cost-share portion of the federal AgriRecovery program to help farmers with the cost of caring for their animals now and through the winter. This investment builds on the previously announced $2 million in provincial support for the Northwestern Livestock Emergency Assistance Initiative which provided assistance for emergency feed, water and fencing.

AgriRecovery is a federal-provincial-territorial relief framework to help agricultural producers with the extraordinary costs associated with recovering from natural disasters. Eligible costs will be supported on the 60-40 cost-shared federal-provincial basis outlined under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

The previously announced Temporary Fencing & Emergency Water component under the Northwestern Livestock Emergency Assistance Initiative will continue to be open to producers through Agricorp until November 1, 2021.

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“We haven’t received any details on what that will look like, but,” said Beef Farmers of Ontario president Rob Lipsett. “It seemed almost like a weight lifting off a lot of people’s shoulders to know that we got the announcement before we moved into an election.”

Why it matters: Beef Farmers of Ontario and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association were concerned that the funds wouldn’t be announced before an expected federal election call.

“We have 62,000 beef producers in the country, so I can confidently say that, yeah, $100 million sounds like a lot upfront,” said Lipsett. “I think everyone involved, including the government, realizes that this is probably only step one of the solution (and) that we’ll need to look at more funding.”

• Read more: Northwestern Ontario farmers wait for hay
• Read more: Feds lock in AgriRecovery funds before election call

The Ontario government also announced $5 million in AgriRecovery funding on Aug. 10 in addition to the $2 million announced to help move feed to the affected area.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) also recently announced $100,000 funding to help farmers facing drought. The OFA’s board of directors is donating $50,000 to the Northwestern Livestock Emergency Assistance Initiative, managed by Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO), and $50,000 to the Hay West initiative delivered by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).   

While the Hay North and Hay West initiatives focus on the needs of beef, sheep, dairy and poultry farmers to survive the drought, there isn’t much discussion on the impact felt by crop, grain and pulse farmers.

Lipsett said there are significant concerns that pasture and forage crops won’t rejuvenate next year so producers could face costly reestablishment of feed stands. 

In addition, commodity prices are high and drought boosts them further, making affordable feed as non-existent as the rain.

Lipsett said high input costs are an additional challenge. 

“There isn’t just a one-size-fits-all solution to this. We almost need a suite of programs available for producers that they could pick and choose and custom make a relief program for themselves.”

The Canadian agriculture sector must develop solutions because every time a program is required, government reinvents the wheel and delays support, said Bob Lowe, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president.

“Right now, the Americans are coming in, and they’ve got a subsidy in place, and they’re buying hay out of the southern prairies and taking it to the United States,” said Lowe. “A lot of it’s leaving the country, which seems a little silly when you’re in the middle of a shortage yourself.”

While it may be frustrating, Lowe said businesses can’t be faulted for selling to the highest bidder. The U.S. sector’s on-the-shelf programs are immediately triggered when specific parameters are reached. 

“It triggers a payment, and (producers) just get it. They don’t have to rehash things out every single time it happens,” he said. “It’s just that much faster, which we don’t have in Canada.” 

The pandemic highlighted two things for all levels of governments, said Lipsett: the Business Risk Management suite of programs is obsolete and requires a redesign; and food security is a top priority. 

It’s the perfect time to build a drought relief program that isn’t ad-hoc but instead stands ready to be deployed.

“The pandemic proved to us that food security is a real issue for this country, and in a drought of this magnitude, it’s not going to help with some of those issues,” said Lipsett. 

“Whether it’s an election or not, all parties will understand they need to take care of our food production and our supply chains.”

Federal agriculture and agri-food minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the government is working with its provincial partners to provide timely support for producers through AgriRecovery. 

“(We are) ready to seek further funding for requests exceeding this amount. We will continue to support farm families to get them through the challenges we face today and position them for a sustainable future, since we know climate change will continue to pose challenges,” said Bibeau.

Lowe and Lipsett said few people realize the positive impact livestock have on the environment and climate change through the maintenance of vital grasslands, pasture and forage crops. They sequester carbon, protect habitat and provide biodiversity. 

“What a whole lot of people don’t understand is we are the ultimate environmentalist,” said Lowe. “We live in the environment…It’s part of our livelihood.”

Lipsett said it may be time to move forage research into the public domain and look for drought-tolerant species. 

He’d also like to see incentives to reward environmental stewardship and efforts to build soil health and resiliency so it can withstand drought. 

“Producers need something to look forward to for a change,” said Lowe. “This was supposed to be the year that we put some profit back into the industry after COVID. But there’s not going to be any profit in the industry right now, that’s for sure.”

Lowe said the federal tax deferral must be extended for more than a year. With the national herd at its lowest numbers in two decades, producers will need assistance to rebuild. 

“You’re getting hit twice. You’re losing $400 a cow on its own, and you’re going to pay that much extra when you buy it. The math is kind of simple,” Lowe said. “We need more cattle, not less.” 

Lowe said he’s never seen things dry up so quickly but he remains optimistic. 

“Every day it doesn’t rain is one day closer to the day it’s going to,” he said. “No amount of government subsidies is going to fix this problem, but what they do amount to is an aid to help us get through it.”

*Update: Includes a donation by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

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