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By rdnewsNOW staff

23 New Regions

2023 livestock drought recovery support being expanded

Jan 30, 2024 | 2:47 PM

The governments of Canada and Alberta are expanding drought livestock assistance eligibility to help producers maintain breeding herds.

Provincial government officials say the 2023 Canada-Alberta Drought Livestock Assistance initiative is expanding eligibility to 23 new regions and extending the application deadline. Funding for this joint AgriRecovery initiative, say government officials, is provided through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP).

Livestock producers in eligible regions who altered their usual grazing practices due to drought conditions for more than 21 days this season can apply for financial support to cover losses incurred to manage and maintain female breeding animals such as cattle, bison, horses, elk, sheep, goats, alpacas, yak, musk ox, deer, water buffalo and llamas. A minimum of 15 animals per type of livestock are required to qualify.

“We’ve seen a high uptake for this AgriRecovery initiative across the province,” says RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation. “I’m pleased Alberta’s government was able to work with the federal government to expand this financial support to additional regions impacted by severe drought and extreme heat conditions. I will continue to look out for the interests of our hard-working livestock producers.”

“Producers across Alberta faced significant challenges last season, so I’m glad we’ve been able to work with the Government of Alberta to expand this AgriRecovery initiative to 23 additional municipalities that were impacted by the drought,” adds Lawrence MacAulay, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “We’re also updating the designated regions for the 2023 Livestock Tax Deferral to give more producers access to the support they need.”

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Funding for the new regions opened on Jan. 29. Officials say applicants in this intake may receive payments of up to $150 per head. The application deadline is Feb. 22 and extraordinary costs can be incurred until March 31. Officials say this expansion also gives producers who were already eligible another opportunity to apply.

The government notes that Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) continues to administer the initiative. Livestock producers can get more information and apply by visiting AFSC’s website.

“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,” shares Darryl Kay, CEO, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation. “Going into 2024, AFSC is ready to help producers manage their risks and support Alberta’s agriculture industry.”

Alberta government quick facts

• AFSC administers four business risk management programs that provide insurance and income stabilization for Alberta’s farmers and ranchers. These include AgriInsurance, AgriStability, AgriInvest and AgriRecovery.
• AgriRecovery is one of the business risk management programs under the Sustainable CAP. The federal-provincial-territorial disaster relief framework helps agricultural producers with the extraordinary costs associated with recovering from natural disasters.
• The Sustainable CAP is a five-year (2023-28), $3.5-billion investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen competitiveness, innovation and resiliency in the agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector.
  • This includes $1 billion in federal programs and $2.5 billion in cost-shared programs funded 60 per cent federally and 40 per cent provincially-territorially.

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