Good news for livestock producers in Saskatchewan trying to get through market disruptions caused by COVID-19.
On Thursday, Agriculture Minister David Marit announced an additional $10 million in funding. It includes $5 million to cover costs for Saskatchewan to participate in the national AgriRecovery program, a set-aside framework offered through a provincial and national partnership designed to help producers financially while they hold onto slaughter-ready cattle.
With this additional funding, Saskatchewan will fund the 40 per cent provincial contribution to take part in the AgriRecovery framework, while the federal government will provide the remaining 60 per cent.
“Our livestock sector is facing tremendous challenges, with producers facing higher costs to feed animals that cannot move along the supply chain as they normally would,” Marit said in a news release“Participation in the AgriRecovery set-aside program will compensate producers for the cost of temporarily holding cattle back from market until supply more evenly matches demand and processing capacity.”
At this time of the year, approximately 3,500 head of market-ready steers and heifers would typically be shipped from Saskatchewan to processing facilities in Alberta every week. Recently, less than 400 head of fed cattle from Saskatchewan have been processed weekly in Alberta plants.
Saskatchewan will work closely with industry, the federal government and other western provinces to finalize the details of the set-aside program. The Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation will deliver the program to Saskatchewan producers.
