The Manitoba government promised $50 million last week to help producers with cattle and other ruminants struggle through the continuing fallout of the BSE situation.
While making the announcement, provincial agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk said the aim is to get money into producers’ hands as quickly as possible, to help strengthen prices for cattle going to market this fall.
“The purpose of this program is to do exactly that, to slow down the flow of cattle into the system and raise the price.
“We have seen an increase in price just with the discussion of this program and I think we will see that higher price maintained. Hopefully this will raise it a little farther by having producers participating in this program and holding their animals out of the market.”
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The money announced last week includes $24 million in new provincial funding. It also includes $26 million that will be made available to beef and other ruminant producers through a special cash advance under the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program.
The announcement came three weeks after Ottawa outlined a $488 million program for affected livestock producers that included the cash advance under CAIS, as well as money to help producers across Canada avoid a rush to market their cattle this fall. There was also money to support increased slaughter capacity in Canada.
“It was Manitoba that urged the federal government to move forward with a cash advance on CAIS and we’re very pleased money is going to be flowing quickly,” Wowchuk said.
“We believe it’s important that farmers have money in their hands and have the ability to make decisions.”
The president of the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association said details of what the province announced were still to be settled this week. Betty Green said it appeared the benefits would stay with producers this time, rather than used by other players in the industry.
Green said it is critical that the money gets to producers as quickly as promised by government. It has been almost 18 months since the United States closed its border to Canadian cattle, causing a backlog of animals to accumulate, especially in provinces that no longer have large federally inspected plants to process cattle.
She said it needs to be understood, especially among urban residents, that part of the money announced by the province last week is a cash advance that producers will pay back. The advance will be deducted from the payments producers receive once they have submitted their regular CAIS applications. It was unclear last week what would happen in the case of producers who received the special cash advance but did not qualify for a payment under the regular CAIS program.
Components announced last week, in addition to the CAIS special cash advance, include:
- The fed cattle set-aside program to help balance the supply of feeder animals with available slaughter capacity.
- The feeder calf set-aside program, intended to balance the flow of calves into feedlots to coincide with the continued expansion of slaughter facilities in Canada.
- The dead stock pick-up program to assist producers with the removal of dead animals while helping Manitoba meet its BSE surveillance targets.
- The management of older animals program, which Wowchuk said will give producers an option to deal with valueless animals that have become a cost to producers.
- A program to assist producers of ruminants other than cattle. Wowchuk could not say how soon details would be available.
“I agree it has to happen sooner rather than later. They have been waiting for a long time,” she said.
As well, the Manitoba government is reintroducing the feeder financing initiative and continuing the Manitoba Agricultural Credit Corp.’s refinancing program. The feeder financing initiative assists producers wanting to restock feedlots by helping them manage the cost of purchasing and then feeding cattle. The refinancing initiative is meant to help producers restructure their loans.
Meanwhile, producers in Saskatchewan were told last week that the federal government will commit $78.5 million for a package of programs under the agricultural policy framework. The funding is not specific to the BSE issue.
The package includes $38.5 million over five years for what is called renewal chapter programming and $40 million for environment chapter programming over the term of the agreement.
Renewal chapter programming includes farm business advisory services, specialized business planning services and planning and assessment for value-added enterprises. Environment chapter programming is designed to enhance environmental stewardship in Saskatchewan’s agriculture industry.
“These programs will assist Saskatchewan producers in making the informed decisions necessary in today’s complex and challenging business world,” said Saskatchewan agriculture minister Mark Wartman. “And they will make these decisions using environmentally sound methods to produce world class commodities.”
