On October 20, 2023, the Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food, announced the completion of the AgriRecovery assessment, which will help producers mitigate the financial impacts of multiple years of severe droughts and historically low inventories of feed and pasture. The Government of Canada is committing $219 million through the AgriRecovery framework to help support western farmers and ranchers, particularly in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, who have been affected by the severe weather events.
This was in follow-up to designations in August for Livestock Tax Deferral in regions that have been affected by extreme weather conditions. Under this announcement, farmers will receive assistance with as much as 70% of extraordinary expenses incurred during the emergencies, including but not limited to:
livestock feed due to decreased pasture availability;
transportation costs related to moving livestock to feed and water; and
re-establishing forage crops damaged by the wildfires.
To mitigate the economic impact of these events, CCA has been working tirelessly with provincial associations and governments, as well as the Government of Canada to advocate for timely AgriRecovery assessments. These efforts were initiated prior to Minister MacAulay’s re-appointment Agriculture Minister on July 26. We met with his predecessor, wrote letters, participated roundtables, and met with officials from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Finance Canada, and the Prime Minister’s Office to advocate for urgent action and for partnership between all orders of government.
We thank the four governments for making the right call in stepping up for beef producers and continue to work with provincial and federal governments to ensure that the money from the assessment will be delivered in an efficient and timely manner. CCA will continue to work to improve forage and rainfall insurance through the Industry Government Forage Insurance Task Team as well as our ongoing request to make Livestock Price Insurance a national program with premiums supported similar to annual crop insurance. We will also work with federal and provincial governments to improve AgriStability to make it work better for cattle producers.
For more information on Friday’s announcements:
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