Governments Assessing Impact of Wildfires on BC’s Agriculture Sector

The governments of Canada and British Columbia are working under the AgriRecovery disaster framework to determine the type of assistance that may be required by British Columbia’s agriculture sector to recover from the impact of wildfires

The announcement was made today following the first meeting between Federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay and B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham.

“Our Government stands with producers in British Columbia who are facing challenges and hardships because of these wildfires,” stated Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay. “Together, with our provincial counterparts, we will work closely with affected producers to assess the full scope of their needs and help them get back in business as quickly as possible.”

“Those funds will be every bit as important to rebuilding the communities as they are to rebuilding the ranches and helping the B.C. cattle industry to survive”

 

AgriRecovery is a federal-provincial-territorial disaster relief framework under Growing Forward 2 intended to work together with the core BRM programs to help agricultural producers recover from natural disasters.

“The AgriRecovery response will help B.C. ranchers and farmers recover from their losses, and return to their land and their livelihoods,” added Lana Popham, B.C. Minister of Agriculture. “Our governments are working with producers, local officials and stakeholders, and the results and spirit of resilience is collective and clear, we will work together to respond to this emergency until the job is done.”

Government officials are working together to quickly assess the extraordinary costs farmers are incurring and what additional assistance may be required to recover and return to production following the wildfires. The types of costs under consideration include:

· Costs related to ensuring animal health and safety.
· Feed, shelter and transportation costs.
· Costs to re-establish perennial crop and pasture production damaged by fire.

“B.C. ranchers are happy to hear that the two governments are doing the necessary assessments that will be needed to give them a fighting chance to get back into business,” said Kevin Boon, General Manager, BC Cattlemen’s Association. “These fires have caused unprecedented impacts for not only the cattle industry but for all of the rural communities. We urge the governments to do everything possible in their assessment, including looking at the parameters of the program, to get as much financial support as possible into these businesses.”

A federal-provincial-territorial cost-shared suite of Business Risk Management (BRM) programs is available to help farmers in managing disaster events, including wildfires. These include AgriStability, AgriInvest and AgriInsurance.

“While the funds may go towards ranchers rebuilding the infrastructure and supplying feed for their animals, every dollar will be spent in the communities where they live,” Boon added. “Those funds will be every bit as important to rebuilding the communities as they are to rebuilding the ranches and helping the B.C. cattle industry to survive.”