Ontario has pledged $150 million in direct aid and other programs for its cattle, hog and horticulture producers in early 2008.
Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky announced the funding Friday, including direct payments of $100 million to cattle and hog producers and $30 million to horticulture producers.
“We are responding to the near-record low prices and tight market conditions in which these farmers find themselves,” she said in a release, citing the rise in the Canadian dollar, escalating input costs, restructuring in the province’s pork and beef processing sectors and continuing impacts from the BSE crisis.
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The remaining $20 million is earmarked for “a variety of initiatives aimed at creating a more sustainable future for the sector,” details of which will be available in the new year.
Agricorp, the province’s program payment delivery agency, will start issuing direct payments to about 13,000 eligible farmers in February.
The direct payment will be based on eligible producers’ historical allowable net sales, generated through the database of this year’s federal Cost of Production Payment and the provincial Cost Recognition Top-Up program. The Ontario Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) said it was told no applications are needed to receive a payment under this program, if a producer was included in the COP payments.
Payments to cattle and hog producers will be 12 per cent of allowable net sales, while payments for horticulture producers (edible and non-edible) will be two per cent. Payments per farmer under this program will be capped at $3 million.
Producers must have at least half their total commodity sales from cattle, hogs or horticulture to be eligible.
OCA president Ian McKillop said in a release Friday that the industry is “extremely thankful” for the province’s latest funding.
The cattle sector’s circumstances are worse than those suffered during the BSE crisis, McKillop said. The OCA estimated Ontario beef producers have lost “well over $100 million” in the last six months of this year.
Compared to the fallout from the BSE crisis, he said, “the big difference now, is that every sector from the processor to the cow/calf producer is losing money.”
The province’s announcement comes on the heels of a $135 million package earlier this year for Ontario grain and oilseed producers.
