The program allows producers to defer a portion of sales proceeds to the following year
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The provincial government and the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) are calling on Ottawa to initiate a livestock program to help producers affected by the summer drought.
"Our government is taking action and standing up for our farmers,” Ernie Hardeman, Ontario’s ag minister, said in a statement Monday. “Farmers already face so many challenges on the job, and the effect that drought can have on pasture lands and forage production forces them to make difficult herd management decisions.”
The Livestock Tax Deferral program allows producers who have sold at least 15 per cent of their breeding herds to “defer a portion of sale proceeds to the following year,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says.
Producers in regions of Ontario last qualified for the Livestock Tax Deferral in 2016.
The federal ag ministry determines which regions in Canada qualify for the deferral program. No Ontario counties have received the proper designations yet, but the feds should release a final list in the next few months.
This fall, Ontario beef producers recall the summer drought and the effects it had on their farms.
“The drought hit me pretty hard from a feed standpoint,” Joel Brodie, a producer from North Huron, told Farms.com. “It was so dry, the cows barely had anything to graze on. I had to feed them hay most of the summer. Now I might be short of hay for the winter.”
Whether or not his area qualifies for the program, anything the government can do to help producers would be welcomed, he added.
Other MPPs are supporting Minister Hardeman’s motion.
Steve Clark, MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, urges the federal government to make its decisions quickly.
“The federal government needs to act immediately to provide the tax deferral and help cattle producers in my riding and other parts of the province hit hard by this year’s drought,” he said in a statement, The Kingston Whig-Standard reported yesterday.
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