By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Wednesday April 14, 2021

Apr 14, 2021 | 9:51 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – The federal government has announced two programs for chicken, turkey, egg, and hatching egg producers as compensation for market access granted under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program will distribute $630 million over the next ten years to farmers through on-farm, cost-share projects.

Farmers can use the funds for projects like new barn construction or upgrading feeding, watering, lighting, ventilation, or heating systems that modernize operations or become more efficient.

Projects will be funded 70/30 by the government and farmer. Young farmers may be eligible for 85 per cent cost share.

Chicken producers will receive $347.3 million while turkey producers will be eligible for $59.6 million. Egg producers get $134 million and broiler hatching egg producers receive $88.6 million.

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The first intake for the program will be announced this spring and will be based on quota.

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There has been strong interest in Alberta’s new On-Farm Slaughter Operation (OFSO) licence.

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry executive director of food safety branch Wanda Aubee said it will provide opportunities for a real farm-to-fork food supply from Alberta livestock producers to Alberta consumers.

In July 2020, the Alberta government amended the provincial Meat Inspection Regulation to allow for the new licensing which allows a farmer to sell an animal direct to a consumer, with all the meat from that animal going to the purchaser of that animal for their own household consumption.

The meat is uninspected and cannot be distributed or sold in any form, from any venue, including at the farm gate.

There have been 177 licences issued in Alberta for on-farm direct to consumer slaughter and processing. In 2020, 728 animals were slaughtered under this new slaughter licence. Most animals slaughtered were poultry, at 442, followed by beef and pork, each at 79 head.

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Food giant Cargill Limited said it has temporarily closed its London, Ont., poultry processing plant due to a COVID-19 outbreak among some of its workers.

The company said there is an active case count of 82 among the 900 people who work at the facility.

Cargill said it made the decision out of an abundance of caution as its workforce deals with the community-wide impacts of COVID-19 and employees will receive a weekly guarantee of 36 hours of pay.

Cargill made testing available to all its employees and has encouraged anyone who is sick or has been exposed to anyone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days to stay home.

The company said it is working closely with public health officials to ensure appropriate prevention, testing and cleaning in its facilities and that employees are following quarantine protocols at home. There is no definite timeline on when the plant will reopen.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW