Drought Assistance for Nova Scotia Farmers

Details of how the Nova Scotia government will help farmers hard hit by three consecutive years of drought were announced today by Ernest Fage, Minister of Agriculture and Marketing.

The government announced $10 million in drought relief this fiscal year in its budget of Oct. 14. The funds are budgeted from the province's $20-million five-year Weather Related Relief Program which began April 1, 1999. About $4 million had been allocated under the program for the 1999-2000 budget year. The additional $6 million has been advanced from program funds reserved for subsequent years.

"We felt it was necessary to release additional funds under the program given the devastating impact this past summer's dry weather and the effect on the whole industry of three consecutive years of drought conditions," said Mr. Fage. "The goal now is to get the applications out to farmers and provide some much needed dollars to them so they can have some relief from the low income associated with lost crops and low yields."

It is estimated that total losses for primary agriculture, through reduced crop yields and livestock feed shortages, could reach as high as $50 million to $60 million for this growing season.

The funds will be distributed in three ways:

• grants to assist farmers in paying two years of interest on loans related to adverse weather in 1998 will be continued whether the loan is with the Nova Scotia Farm Loan Board or another lending institution. In total, $3 million has been allocated for this component, to be used this fiscal year.
• grants will be provided to assist those farmers who are making principal payments on loans taken out to offset 1997 weather-related losses. The grants will cover 50 per cent of farmers' loan principals over a three-year period. The duration of this component of the program has been accelerated from five years to three. It is open to all farmers who took out loans under the 1997 Loss Provision Program and demonstrated weather-related losses. This component has been open since April 1, 1999, and to date more than $1 million has been dispersed. In total, $4.3 million has been allocated for this component this fiscal year.
• grants will be provided to cover 30 per cent of principal payments on loans taken out under the 1998 Loss Provision Program to offset 1998 weather-related losses. That is 10 per cent of the principal over each of the next three years. In total, $2 million has been allocated for this new component this fiscal year.

Seven hundred thousand dollars has also been allocated as the first installment of the province's 40-per cent share of the federal Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance Program.

"Since the program has been accelerated from five years to three, and we have a commitment with the federal government to pay 40 per cent of this federal/provincial program, we wanted to earmark some funds to cover that commitment," said Mr. Fage. "Response to the federal program by Nova Scotia farmers has also been higher than anticipated and we wanted to begin to set aside adequate funds to cover our contribution when all the final figures come in."

Applications for components two and three will be available through county agricultural offices and the Farm Loan Board sometime next week. The Farm Loan Board, which is administering the program, will also be mailing applications to farmers across the province.

Deadline for applications is Feb. 28, 2000.