PEI Farmers To Receive Disaster Funding

Potato farmers facing difficulties in the wake of severe rains this fall are eligible for emergency income support through a new joint Canada-PEI Potato Assistance Program, Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced on 10 December.

"We worked quickly with farmers and the Government of PEI to develop a response to this situation," said Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. "I am pleased that funds are now going to producers to help them during this difficult time."

This autumn saw excessively wet weather create a number of problems for PEI producers including harvesting challenges, potatoes standing in water and disease. "Many potato producers are facing difficulties due to the wet harvest conditions this fall," said PEI Minister of Agriculture Neil LeClair. "These payments going out now will help those producers to offset some of their losses."

Payments are now being mailed to eligible PEI potato producers affected by severe rains this autumn. The $12.4 million PEI Potato Assistance Program is jointly funded by the federal and provincial governments on a 60-40 basis. The assistance program provides an incentive for producers not to harvest diseased or spoiled potatoes in an effort to reduce the risk of further spoilage of unaffected potatoes in storage. The program also encourages environmentally sound disposal of diseased or spoiled potatoes.

Under the program PEI producers in AgriInsurance will receive a guaranteed payment of 75 per cent of the insured value of their unharvested potatoes. In addition, all PEI potato producers will receive one cent a pound to cover the extra costs of destroying spoiled potatoes. The PEI potato program is delivered provincially.

Source: posted by 21food.com, 10 Dec 2008.