Calls for financial relief for Alberta farmers amid continued extreme conditions

Alberta's Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson said he has written a letter to the federal government requesting an AgriRecovery assessment. 

A summer of wildfires, flooding and extremely dry conditions has prompted calls for further supports for Alberta farmers.

It comes after four Alberta counties declared states of agricultural disaster due to poor growing conditions impacting this season’s crops.

Alberta’s Opposition NDP launched a call Monday for the government to compensate agricultural producers struggling with the fallout from this year’s natural disasters in the province.

“The ask is that the provincial and federal government meet this week and come out at the end of this week with a plan to support producers,” said Heather Sweet, NDP agriculture, forestry & rural economic development critic.

“(The province) needs to request the ability to start accessing AgriRecovery and AgriStability funding for our producers.”

AgriStability is a program for Canadian producers to help with large declines in farming income due to production loss, increased costs and market conditions.

However, AgriRecovery is a framework between the federal and provincial governments to determine cost sharing for disaster recovery initiatives.

“While this UCP government has only released funding to offset costs of wildfire damage for municipalities and settlements, this funding excludes agricultural producers from receiving aid,” Sweet said.