Island hog producers offered $500K in pandemic support
Federal-provincial initiative to offset cost of feed, maintenance
Island hog producers are welcoming the announcement of new funding aimed to offset increased costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pork P.E.I. Chairman Dale Murray said the industry is facing financial challenges and a stressful situation.
"The COVID pandemic has had a significant impact on the P.E.I. hog industry due to the inability to get hogs to market in a timely manner," he said in a news release.
The new initiative provides up to $500,000 for producers under AgriRecovery, a federal-provincial program designed to help the agriculture industry recover from disasters.
The federal government will cover 60 per cent of the cost and P.E.I. is responsible for the remaining 40 per cent.
P.E.I. has 12 commercial operations producing 70,000 hogs per year.
With COVID-19 outbreaks forcing several plants to close, many hogs remained on farms longer than normal. This resulted in an unexpected rise in feed and maintenance costs.
Producers will be able to receive financial assistance for up to 90 per cent of the cost to feed hogs that were held up from going on the market.
Applications will be processed by the P.E.I. Department of Agriculture and Land.