Mark Warawa, member of Parliament for Langley, on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, and members of the legislative assembly in B.C. for Abbotsford South and Abbotsford-Mission, Darryl Plecas and Simon Gibson, on behalf of B.C. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick, announced funding for two initiatives worth up to $1.58 million to help B.C. poultry producers re-establish their operations and mitigate the impact of future risks following an outbreak of notifiable avian influenza in the Fraser Valley this past winter.

Quotes:

Mark Warawa, member of Parliament for Langley -

"Governments agreed that Growing Forward 2 ‎would be there for farmers in times of unforeseen economic harm. These initiatives will help B.C. poultry producers deal with added costs of resuming business operations, while helping the poultry sector develop insurance options against future outbreaks."

B.C. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick -

"The value of government and industry partnership has been evident in our successful response to the avian flu outbreak, and this funding is one more step in that process. By helping B.C.'s impacted poultry farmers recover the cleaning and disinfection expenses they incurred in helping to limit the viruses' spread, we're encouraging B.C.'s farmers to continue their hard work in providing local, high-quality foods."

Garnet Etsell, chair of the B.C. poultry industry Captive Insurance Company and director of the 2014 industry Emergency Operations Centre - 

"The funding for the AgriRecovery claim and the AgriRisk initiative goes hand in hand, and it's much appreciated by industry. The B.C. poultry industry is thankful for the assistance, and both the provincial and federal governments' timely help, in reducing the economic hardship experienced by those affected by the 2014 avian influenza outbreak through the AgriRecovery program. The AgriRisk initiative will help the industry continue its leading edge work on developing a risk mitigation strategy that will further reduce the effects of future threats."

Quick Facts:

• AgriRecovery and AgriRisk initiatives are part of the suite of federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) business risk management tools under Growing Forward 2.
• The AgriRecovery framework allows federal and provincial governments to respond to unforeseen disasters that result in extraordinary costs for producers and where the assistance required is beyond what is available under existing programs.
• AgriRisk supports the research and development as well as the implementation and administration of new risk-management tools for use in the agriculture sector.
• In 2013, B.C. poultry and egg farm cash receipts totalled $547 million corresponding to 14.5% of Canada's total poultry and egg farm cash receipts.

Additional Links:

Growing Forward 2: http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/about-us/key-departmental-initiatives/growing-forward-2/?id=1294780620963

AgriRecovery: http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/?id=1387480598562

AgriRisk Initiatives: http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/?id=1369851891708

Avian influenza AgriRecovery applications: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=106BDDEBC64C4B0FA33DAC5B563D4AC0

AgriStability: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=C0BD97C41500455CB160BEB4117D899A

Media Contacts:

Emily Hoogeveen
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
613 773-1059

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
613 773-7972
1 866 345-7972
Follow us on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada

Government Communications and Public Engagement
British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture
250 356-1674

BACKGROUNDER

Governments help poultry industry recover from impact of avian influenza

The 2014 Canada-British Columbia Avian Influenza Assistance Initiative, developed under the federal-provincial-territorial AgriRecovery framework, will provide operators of infected commercial premises up to:

• 90% reimbursement for extraordinary cleaning, disinfection and stage two composting costs, to a maximum of:
• $2.39 per turkey.
• $1.80 per broiler breeder ($2.93 justified by acceptable receipts).
• For egg layers, receipts are required to a maximum of $5.00 per bird.
• 90% reimbursement for repair and replacement costs of equipment damaged as a direct result of cleaning and disinfection activities.
• 90% of the destruction and disposal costs of eggs, chicks or birds that could not be marketed as a direct result of avian influenza.
• Payment for birds from infected premises that died prior to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency destruction order to a maximum of:
• $60 per broiler breeder.
• $70 per meat turkey.
• $30 per egg layer.

The initiative will also reimburse 90% of cleaning and disinfection costs incurred by the two small flock premises identified during the response.

The Ministry of Agriculture will contact the 13 commercial and small flock producers identified during the response efforts to begin the process, as well as industry representatives, and will post additional information and materials at: www.gov.bc.ca/agribusinessriskmanagement

This initiative complements AgriStability, which is available to provide support for income declines, including severe declines resulting from disease outbreaks.

In addition, the BC Poultry Association will receive up to $325,025 in federal funding under the AgriRisk Initiatives Research and Development stream to help the industry implement an insurance product that will cover poultry producers for costs associated with any future notifiable avian influenza outbreak.

Media Contacts:

Emily Hoogeveen
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
613 773-1059

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
613 773-7972
1 866 345-7972
Follow us on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada

Government Communications and Public Engagement
British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture
250 356-1674