By Dori Modney with files from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Federal provincial financial support announced for Alberta hog producers

Mar 7, 2021 | 8:00 AM

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — The federal and Alberta governments have launched an initiative under the AgriRecovery Framework, to provide up to $3 million for Alberta`s hog producers impacted by processing shutdowns due to the pandemic.

Funding for the initiative is cost-shared on a 60/40 basis between Canada and Alberta, with the province administering applications and payments.

Provincial pork processing has been impacted by COVID-19 outbreaks and disease control measures, resulting in plant closures and reduced slaughter capacity.

Many Alberta hog producers are being forced to keep hogs on-farm beyond their standard lifecycle, resulting in excessive feed and maintenance costs which put a financial strain on their operations. The initiative will provide assistance for up to 90 per cent of the cost to feed market-ready hogs held back from processing due to plant closures and reduced capacity.

AgriRecovery is a disaster relief framework that is part of a suite of federal-provincial-territorial Business Risk Management (BRM) programs under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Since May, AgriRecovery Initiatives for livestock have been announced in Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

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Last May, the Government of Canada announced the launch of national AgriRecovery initiatives of up to $100 million in assistance for extraordinary costs of managing livestock backed-up on farms (hogs and cattle), due to the temporary closure of food processing plants affected by COVID-19. Extraordinarily for the 2020-21 fiscal year, the federal government announced it will provide the federal share of funding without requiring provincial contributions and will cover 90 per cent of eligible extraordinary costs, up from 70 per cent.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, Marie-Claude Bibeau, noted that when the Agri-Recovery initiative was announced last May, they dedicated $50 million to help pork producers deal with situations just like this one.

“It has already been a rollercoaster year and the Olymel closure is yet another challenge for pork producers. Our Government has the back of pork producers and will assist them with the extra costs to deal with the associated backlogs. We also care deeply about the health and safety of food production plant workers, who are doing essential work, and we have implemented a range of emergency safety and worker benefits programs to support their safety and wellbeing.”