Feds, province extend deadline for drought livestock assistance

By Rob Vogt
The federal and provincial governments have announced they are extending the deadline to Feb. 22 to apply for drought livestock assistance to help producers maintain breeding herds.
A Jan. 25 news release states the 2023 Canada-Alberta Drought Livestock Assistance initiative is extending the application deadline, as well as expanding eligibility to 23 new regions. Funding for this joint AgriRecovery initiative is provided through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
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.
Funding for the new regions opeed on Jan. 29. 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.
This expansion also gives producers who were already eligible, such as those in the Municipal District of Willow Creek, another opportunity to apply.
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. Going into 2024, AFSC is ready to help producers manage their risks and support Alberta’s agriculture industry,” said Darryl Kay, chief executive officer, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation.
The Agriculture Financial Services Corporation 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 Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The federal-provincial-territorial disaster relief framework helps agricultural producers with the extraordinary costs associated with recovering from natural disasters.
The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year, from 2023 to 2028, $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.