Manitoba Livestock Producers Receive Feed Assistance from Governments of Canada and Manitoba

December 17, 2010

Winnipeg, Manitoba – Manitoba livestock producers facing feed shortages this winter following an extremely wet 2010 growing season will receive feed and transportation assistance from the Governments of Canada and Manitoba. The investment was announced today by the federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Stan Struthers.

"Livestock producers expect to deal with difficult weather from time to time, but this year’s extremely wet conditions will greatly impact available feed in Manitoba this winter," said Minister Ritz. "Although the late harvest delayed the assessment of damage, our Governments have worked together to respond as quickly as possible so producers can manage their cash flow and begin to buy and truck in additional feed to carry them through the winter."

"Conditions this year have made access to feed supplies extremely challenging for the livestock producers who grow and depend on them, particularly those in the Interlake region who have been dealing with multiple years of excess moisture" said Minister Struthers. "The province has a history of supporting livestock producers and this assistance program, developed in consultation with the industry, will help buy and transport feed to the livestock that need it."

The Canada-Manitoba Feed and Transportation Assistance Program has two components:

• Transportation assistance of up to $0.22 per tonne per loaded mile for producers who must transport feed to livestock or up to $0.10 per head per loaded mile for producers who need to transport breeding animals to feed at distances greater than normally expected due to excess moisture.
• Feed assistance of up to $30 per ton based on an identified forage shortage to help producers who normally grow their own forage to purchase enough feed to sustain their breeding stock.

Producers are encouraged to contact their local Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) office, or go online at www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture for more information and application forms.

Funding for this initiative has been made available under AgriRecovery, which allows governments to respond quickly when disaster strikes a region. Other programs also available to assist farmers and producers include AgriInsurance, AgriStability and AgriInvest.

In addition to providing tax deferrals to eligible producers in designated areas on the sale of breeding livestock, the Government of Canada also provided cattle and hog producers extra time to repay cash advances under the Advance Payment Program (APP). For more information on these and other programs to assist farmers dealing with excess moisture or drought, see the AAFC Drought Watch site at www.agr.gc.ca/drought.