Transportation deadlines have been extended under the Canada-Manitoba Feed and Transportation Assistance Program (CM-FATAP) announced last December. This announcement was made by Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Stan Struthers.
“Producers told us they need more time to assess the full impact on their operations and we’re listening,” said Minister Ritz. “We will continue to put farmers first in delivering programs that respond to farmers needs.”
“Farmers have said they need more time to complete their arrangements for shipping feed and transporting animals and we’re agreeable to that,” said Minister Struthers. “This extension will ensure that producers are able to make necessary transportation arrangements, demonstrating our continued commitment to match areas of need with appropriate feed.”
Previously, livestock producers had until March 15 to ship hay or animals under the Program. They will now have until March 31. In addition, the application deadline for this Transportation Assistance component will also be extended to March 31. Deadlines related to the Feed Assistance component of the program remain unchanged.
The Transportation Assistance component of the CM-FATAP provides financial assistance to producers to help with the cost of transporting needed feed to eligible breeding animals or shipping eligible breeding animals to feed locations. The Program also included a Feed Assistance component to help with the costs of purchasing needed feed. Funding was also available to help with the cost of testing feed to determine quality.
Funding for this Program has been made available under the federal-provincial-territorial AgriRecovery Framework, which allows governments to respond quickly to assist affected producers when disaster strikes a region. Other programs also available to assist farmers and producers include AgriInsurance, AgriStability and AgriInvest.
