The federal government is providing an “initial amount” of $252 million to Canadian farmers and food processors to help them weather the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday.
Trudeau announced a new $77 million fund for food processors of various sizes, including meat packers, to help these businesses retrofit their factories and increase their capacity to deal with a backlog of livestock building up in parts of the county.
The government is also adding $125 million to the AgriRecovery fund, a federal-provincial-territorial program aimed at helping farmers during disasters.
“For many farmers, this crisis means that they have to keep animals for longer periods of time, and that can be expensive. So, with this funding, we’re giving extra help to beef and pork producers so they can adapt to the crisis,” said Trudeau.
Ottawa will also provide $50 million for a program that will see the government buy large quantities of surplus products and redistribute them to food banks and other charities, to avoid throwing out food and to allow the producers to still be compensated.
In addition, the federal government intends to increase the Canadian Dairy Commission’s borrowing limit by $200 million to support costs associated with the temporary storage of cheese and butter to avoid food waste, Trudeau said.
However, this measure requires legislative changes and the minority Liberal government will work with opposition parties to push it through Parliament, he added.
But the funding envelope falls far short of the $2.6 billion emergency fund requested by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).
Mary Robinson, president of the CFA, said many farmers are making decisions at this time of the year that will have a direct impact on the variety and cost of domestic food availability for all Canadians.
These decisions are being made amid “huge uncertainty” and lack of a firm financial backstop, she said.
“Many farmers are facing the reality that these risks are too great, and are having to modify their food production plans,” Robinson said. “As a country we cannot allow this to happen.”
With files from CBC News
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