Alberta livestock producers hard hit by a severe winter and drought last summer are looking for federal and provincial help through the AgriRecovery program.
The program is designed to cover such natural disasters. Alberta Beef Producers have asked provincial agriculture minister George Groeneveld to initiate the process to get cash out to the country where feed supplies are low due to severe drought from north of Calgary to the Peace River district.
ABP policy analyst Fred Hay told producers at their annual meeting in Calgary Dec. 7-9 to contact their members of Parliament and the provincial legislature and request immediate action.
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AgriRecovery is designed to deal with natural disasters such as the drought. Groeneveld has to ask federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz to initiate the federal-provincial, cost-shared program.
Hay estimates about 1.3 million cows have been affected by the drought. Alberta has 1.9 million beef cows. The information was based on those municipalities where federal tax deferrals were granted when herds were reduced due to lack of feed.
“Because there is a deficiency of forage and pasture required for that cow herd there is going to be incremental costs in the winter time. There is some feed but there is not enough and the cost of that feed is going to be higher than it would have been a year ago,” Hay said.
Producers need enough winter feed for 157 days and with escalating prices, cash is needed to survive. His research suggested daily feeding costs would average $2.05 per cow this year.
ABP also calculated freight costs as part of the proposal to the government.
Agriculture Canada forage availability maps show severe shortages across large tracts of the province. Forage production outlooks for next year indicate a well below average yield.
