New Brunswick potato growers receive assistance for storage losses

New Brunswick potato growers will receive up to $3 million to help offset the extra costs of cleaning and disinfection of storage facilities and disposing of ruined product following a difficult growing season in 2009.

The announcement was made today by Agriculture and Aquaculture Minister Ronald Ouellette and MP Mike Allen (Tobique-Mactaquac).

“It is important for the provincial government to be an active partner in the agriculture industry,” said Ouellette. “It is especially important to do so in times of unexpected challenges. I am pleased that we can respond to the needs of our potato growers as they deal with the impact of a difficult 2009 season.”

“New Brunswick potato growers are doing their best to recover from the impacts of the challenging 2009 growing season, and this government is standing with them,” said Allen. “This assistance will help farmers get their operations ready for the coming harvest.”

Allen spoke on behalf of federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Gerry Ritz.

The New Brunswick Potato Storage Loss Initiative will provide producers with assistance to help with the costs incurred for disposal of spoiled potatoes and for cleaning and disinfecting storage facilities and equipment. Payments will be based upon the volume of potatoes in storage and subsequently destroyed.

The initiative is funded through the AgriRecovery framework, which allows governments to respond with targeted assistance for regional disasters. It is cost-shared on a 60/40 basis between the Government of Canada and the provincial government.

In addition to this assistance, existing federal-provincial business risk management programs, such as AgriInsurance (crop insurance), AgriStability, and AgriInvest, will help producers address income losses resulting from the wet and cool 2009 growing season.

The assistance will be delivered by the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture. Eligible producers will be contacted within the coming weeks with details about the program and the application process.