Ministers from the Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia departments of agriculture today announced their intent to offer a cash advance to agricultural producers owning breeding beef cows and other specified ruminants affected by BSE who are participating in the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program. Cow-calf producers will be offered an advance of $100 per cow. The funding will be an advance on 2004 CAIS claims.
“This additional measure will help to offset the significant losses that livestock producers continue to experience,” said Prince Edward Island Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kevin MacAdam. “At the same time, we will be exploring further measures with the federal government that will respond more directly to the distinct issues facing Maritime beef producers.”
After recent consultation with the cattle industry, senior provincial agriculture officials met on October 8 to discuss the state of the beef industry in the Maritimes as a result of the continued closure of the U.S. border due to BSE.
It was agreed that despite differences in industry, the BSE crisis has impacted Maritime farmers to the same extent financially as beef farmers in other Canadian jurisdictions. Although Atlantic Canada is not self sufficient in beef production, beef prices have dropped as in the rest of the country and have only partially recovered from the very low prices of last summer.
Ministers agree with the maritime cattle industry that the recently announced federal cattle repositioning program is designed to meet the needs of western Canadian beef producers and does not adequately address the significant issues facing Maritime beef producers. Ministers are further announcing today that they will jointly work with the federal government to respond to the common needs of the Maritime beef industry by developing programming that is more strategic for the region.
Ministers noted that federal initiatives designed to support “Raising the Maritime Bar” investments in increasing slaughter capacity for fat animals and cull cows, trace back systems, dead stock removal systems, developing local markets and the upgrade of provincial meat inspection systems are required.
The Maritime ministers plan to advance their common approach when federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers meet in November to discuss the issue of flexibility and affordability.