Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong welcomed News that the federal government, in partnership with the Province of Ontario, is delivering relief for livestock producers in Wellington County and Halton Hills who are facing severe forage shortages as a result of this summer’s dry growing conditions.
The governments will provide assistance through AgriRecovery to help livestock producers with transportation costs incurred in accessing feed for their breeding herds over winter.
“Some farmers in Wellington County and Halton Hills were hit particularly hard during the drought in summer 2012,” said Chong. “I am pleased that there will be assistance available to our local farmers through AgriRecovery.”
The Ontario Forage and Livestock Transportation Assistance Initiative will provide up to $2.4 million to help affected livestock producers in designated drought areas of eastern and southwest Ontario cover a portion of the costs of transporting feed to their breeding herds, or breeding herds to areas with surplus feed.
Agricorp will administer the Ontario Forage and Livestock Transportation Assistance Initiative, and more information can be found at http://goo.gl/xjACB.
The two components of the initiative are: up to $0.14 per tonne, per kilometre to assist with the transportation of forage and feed; or up to $0.075 per kilometre, per animal, to move animals to available feed.
This initiative is being delivered under the AgriRecovery Framework, which allows governments to respond to unforeseen disasters that result in high recovery costs for producers.
The federal government is also providing tax deferrals to eligible producers in designated drought areas on the sale of their breeding livestock. To learn more about the areas for the tax deferral provision, visit http://goo.gl/jo7UN.
