Source: Canadian Cattlemen’s Association
Over the past week, the Government of Canada (GoC) has made a number of announcements on financial support measures for individuals and industries impacted by COVID-19, including the agriculture sector.
Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has received an additional $5 billion from the GoC to help farmers and agri-food businesses as part of Canada’s response to COVID-19.
Eligible producers who have an outstanding Advance Payments Program (APP) loan due on or before April 30, 2020 can receive a Stay of Default, allowing an additional six months to repay the loan. All producers should contact their APP administrator to enquire about their eligibility for the Stay of Default.
Income tax deferrals and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit have been announced. In addition, a 75 per cent wage subsidy for qualifying businesses, for up to 3 months, retroactive to March 15, 2020 has also been announced. This may help businesses to keep and return workers to the payroll. CCA will share more details on eligibility criteria as it becomes available. To learn more about these financial supports, click here.
With the significant volatility in world markets, access to well designed and sufficiently funded business risk management tools has never been more critical for cattle producers.
The CCA has been in close contact with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and made a number of recommendations to provide support for producers to keep their operations financially sustainable and ensure the health and welfare of producers, their cattle, and the Canadian cattle Industry as we navigate through this global crisis.
These include meaningful enhancements to existing programs such as AgriStability and cattle price insurance. CCA has also requested government to investigate measures like Agri-Recovery as a vehicle to provide support to producers in a timely matter.
Click here to see the full recommendations CCA submitted to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food on business risk management.
