Alberta producers with cropland affected by the heavy spring rains will soon have access to the recently-announced $450 million federal-provincial funded AgriRecovery relief program, intended to help farmers take immediate steps to protect and restore damaged cropland.
Amounting to $30 per acre in assistance for affected cropland, Alberta’s slice of the eligible payout to producers is $42.1 million, and will be administered through the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC).
MLA Broyce Jacobs, parliamentary assistant for Agriculture and Rural Development, applauded the federal and provincial government’s resolve in making these payments available to producers. 
“Many farms and ranches in southern Alberta were really devastated by the floods, the heavy rains and the heavy moisture this spring. I think it’s going to be beneficial to many of the farmers who had flood damage and also unseeded acres — there was a lot of unseeded acres in this area. Proportionally, we probably had more unseeded acres in southern Alberta than in any other area of the province. Even though many will have crop insurance that will apply, this will help with reseeding if they so choose to do so, or chem fallow, to prepare the land for future crops.”
Vast tracts of cropland across the province were hard hit by the severe weather experienced in June. In affected areas, approximately 370,000 acres of land remain unseeded, with more than one million acres seeded, then flooded. Much of the land that was seeded is now non-viable. In the other prairie provinces, losses experienced by producers are similar to Alberta.
According to projections made by the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), between 10-12 million acres, or up to one-fifth of Prairie farmland, went unseeded due to heavy moisture during the planting season, while acres already seeded will be facing damage, or total loss. The seeded area for all wheat is estimated at 19.15 million acres, the smallest area since 1971, while the area seeded to durum is expected to be 3.4 million seeded acres, the smallest area since 1980. Barley acres are estimated at about 6.6 million acres, the lowest seeded area since 1965.
The provincial government is chipping in slightly less that the federal government in funding their share of the AgriRecovery relief program. 
“It’s a 60-40 program, 60 per cent federal, 40 per cent provincial,” said Jacobs. “I think of the $42 million it’s going to cost in Alberta, $25 million comes from the feds, and $16 million from the provincial government. Alberta didn’t have as much — Saskatchewan was hit the hardest. I think they had 15 million acres affected in Saskatchewan. We had nearly 1.5 to 2 million in Alberta.”
According to Jacobs, crop producers must self-declare for the payment by filling out the application form and submitting it to their local AFSC office.
“Application forms, my information is they should be available this week. People will need to make out an application, and those will be available at the AFSC offices, or they can get them online, as I understand it. So, I would encourage farmers to get their applications in early. My information is that the program is going to work fairly rapidly, so perhaps we can be optimistic and hope that payments will come in the very near future.”
Regarding guidelines governing program access and entitlement to financial assistance for producers through the program, Jacobs said details have been slow in materializing. But he encouraged producers to submit an application if their croplands were affected in any way by the spring weather events.
“I’ve asked that question several times, and all I can seem to get is that if you were unseeded, or you were affected by the rain — I didn’t get to fly over southern Alberta with the minister and the deputy premier after that heavy June rain. I remember talking to Jack Hayden and Doug Horner about it afterwards, but they said that the Taber southwest areas just looked like an inland sea. So, those crops that were under that water for two or three days or whatever, definitely were affected. And even if they survived, yields will probably be affected. So, as I understand it, if the land was affected by the flooding, or unseeded, then they will be eligible.”
Some debate has occurred whether the $30 an acre is enough for some farmers, given the high input of some crops.
“We have some concerns, particularly with the high-value crops, when you consider $30 is probably one-fifth of the expense for fertilizer per acre (for some crops). Some of these guys are putting in $150-$200 per acre in,” said Derrick Krizsan, municipal administrator for the M.D. of Taber.
M.D. of Taber reeve Hank Van Beers added he is waiting to see how the program pans out for farmers, along with the other avenues available to them in response to the spring storms before judging the merits of the program.
“It is extra help for the farmers. They do have insurance programs available to them and if they combine that with the program, there is money available. Whether it is enough remains to be seen. I think around harvest time is the time to get a better grip on that,” said Van Beers. “Surveying some areas, they have been drowned out and other areas there are some pretty good crops out there. It’s a little early right now to cry wolf until we get a better understanding of the programs and how the AFSC is going to deal with it. I’m not saying everyone doesn’t have hail or crop insurance, but not everyone has the same level of insurance on their house and its contents. If people didn’t take it out (insurance), they have to take some responsibility themselves for that.”
More information about the AgriRecovery relief program is available at www.afsc.ca or by calling 1-877-899-2372. Application forms are available at AFSC district offices, on-line and mailed out.