“Since last fall, we’ve been seeking help for the individual farmers who lost a great deal of money when their crops broke down in storage,” said Potato Board Chairman Boyd Rose. “We appreciated the cooperation shown by both levels of government when they quickly announced assistance back on October 1, 2008, but it’s been a long seven months waiting for this announcement on the storage component.”
When the Disaster Assistance Program was announced last fall, the federal and provincial governments indicated up to $12.4 million would be provided to Island potato farmers. However, the terms of the program were quite restrictive, and even though Island farmers had to abandon 3,500 acres of potatoes (worth over $10 million) due to sodden fields, the disaster program paid out only $1.4 million of the promised $12.4 million assistance by the end of March.
With this new announcement of help for the losses that occurred in storage, the Board estimates that the total amount that will go to Island potato farmers will be approximately $2.8 million ($1.4 million for field losses and $1.4 million for storage breakdown), and not $12.4 million as announced on October 1, 2008 and again on December 5, 2008. The federal portion is therefore estimated at $1.68 million, and the provincial portion - $1.12 million.
