Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has issued a statement after a virtual meeting with her provincial counterparts yesterday.

She says it was a lead-up to the annual conference in Guelph in early September.

Bibeau says she is working closely with the provinces to monitor and respond to the evolving drought in western Ontario, the Prairies and B.C.

Bibeau says the federal government is ready to assist to ensure an adequate response to the crisis, including business risk programs.

She is committed to working closely with the provinces to assess policies to respond to the extreme weather.

In particular, she says the drought-affected provinces could invoke the late participation provision of Agristability to allow more producers to access the support program.

She also urged prairie governments to match the federal offer to raise the Agristability compensation rate to 80 percent, which she says would mean an added 75 million dollars nationally to farmers who need it the most every year.

She is also prepared to receive any formal submission for AgriRecovery from the provinces, which are needed to trigger the process.

AgriRecovery is cost-shared 60-40 that provides emergency support in cases of natural disasters.

The ministers directed officials to organize a meeting with drought affected provinces soon to discuss AgriRecovery in more detail.

Ongoing consultations were also held for the next Agricultural Policy framework, set to begin in April 2023.

She wants to find improvements to the business risk programs.

Bibeau added protecting Canadian pork producers from the threat of African Swine fever remains a major priority for the federal government.

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