Province offers $2,500 to farmers affected by wildfires as they assess losses

Financial assistance will soon be available for Nova Scotia farmers who were affected by the wildfires.

The province is providing a one-time emergency grant of $2,500 to farmers located in the mandatory evacuation zones in Halifax Regional Municipality and Shelburne County.

"These grants will help with some immediate financial needs," said Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow. "We'll continue to work with farmers as they assess damages and make recovery plans."

Peter Sutherland has been the owner of the Wild Blueberry U-Pick in Barrington, N.S., for 15 years and he said the damage to his farm is extensive. 

"It's pretty much 100 per cent," Sutherland said. "You can't salvage none of that stuff."

Sutherland said he was frustrated by the evacuation order, which didn't leave him enough time to save his heavy machinery. 

"It was get out or go to jail," Sutherland said, adding that he only needed another 15 minutes to relocate equipment that he wound up losing to the fire.

His farm lost smaller tractors and boom sprayers, but it's the harvester that's critical to his operations in July. It will cost over $200,000 to replace, he said.

The emergency grant is a fine gesture, but it falls far short of what he needs to save his business.

"Every little bit helps, but that isn't even going to come close to what I need," Sutherland said.

Much of the damage will be covered by insurance. But in the meantime, he needs access to his property so he can assess the damage and make plans to rebuild.

Sutherland uses his equipment to help other farmers harvest later in the season too, so the effect on his income, and the agricultural sector, goes beyond a single operation.

Industry still assessing losses

Matthew Roy is the president of the Yarmouth Shelburne Federation of Agriculture. His family operates Coastal Grove Farm in Upper Port La Tour. They were forced to leave for a week during the height of the wildfires in Barrington and Shelburne.

"We will have periods where our income will be greatly diminished," Roy said. "When you think about two to three months out is where the impact will be felt, when we should be harvesting those lettuces and brassicas, they won't be there."

The local agricultural industry is still calculating its losses, but Morrow said the province was wasting no time in offering assistance.

"It will go directly to the farms," he said. "There's no application, there's no receipts. Any farm in the impacted zones that were under evacuation order, they'll be eligible for that funding."

Bruce Nunn, a spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, said that the province has begun reaching out to affected farmers.

"Even if the farm is not registered, the department will help it become a registered farm and then be eligible for the assistance grants," Nunn said.

About 20 registered producers were affected by the wildfires, Morrow said. The emergency grants will offset costs of moving livestock and help to replace uninsured crops, he said, and the one-time payment will not preclude any future opportunities for relief funding.