After almost half a year of wondering how they’ll pay for damages to their operations, Red River Valley farmers found out late last week they’ll get some help from a $26 million compensation package.
While help for homeowners has been in place for months, many farmers had almost given up on the hope for money to repair barns and start to get business back to normal.
“Expectations were almost so low that anything that came out would have been welcomed,” said Marcel Hacault, a farmer with Keystone Agricultural Producers who has spent months lobbying the governments on this issue.
Read Also
Ag In Motion 2025 site hub of activity
day before Ag in Motion preview.
KAP president Les Jacobson said $26 million won’t fix all the problems the flood dumped on valley farmers, such as restoring eroded crop land.
Farmers can apply for $100,000 to repair buildings and pay for costs during the flood, and costs to get farms up and running again.
However, buildings will be assessed at depreciated values.
But farmers can also get up to $100,000 in interest-free loans, to be repaid over five years, to help cover the difference between the depreciated value of buildings and the cost of repairing or constructing with new material.
“That’s where the crunch comes: where do all these farmers find this money?” said Jacobson, adding the loan is a good start.
The program also helps farmers who earn only part of their income from their operations.
“Clearly, larger units will probably be hitting those caps, but $100,000 goes a long ways,” he said.
“At least the producers know what … is going to be paid for and what won’t be, so at least we’re going to be able to get on with life,” he said, adding federal MPs assured him they will go to bat for more money if needed.
Hacault said the farm flood relief fund will start by helping livestock producers with production losses from moving cattle during the flood, or selling them off early.
Jacobson said no one really knows how much damage was done to farms in the flood, but $26 million is the government’s best guess based on certain limited criteria.
Until now, farmers have received only up to $5,000 each in an advance on the business restoration program.
“All that did was pay the heat and light for a while,” said Jacobson.
“It didn’t pay any of the costs that producers were facing here all summer and wondering how they were going to get through this.”
