B.C. floods shine spotlight on AgriRecovery

The likelihood of the AgriRecovery disaster relief program being triggered for the second time in British Columbia in only a few months is highlighting ongoing discussions to improve risk management for Canadian producers in the face of climate change.

Although “we’ve shown that this program can react very quickly,” officials have been eyeing ways to “improve the business risk management programs and to make them responsive to the new type of challenges that we are facing,” said federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

“Many of them are coming from changing climate and extreme events, so this is a conversation that we are having already.”

AgriRecovery is one of the first mechanisms that can be put into place following unprecedented flooding that has affected hundreds of B.C. producers, she said during a visit Nov. 18 to Olds College in Alberta.

The program was implemented in September to help B.C. farmers and ranchers slammed by record-breaking heat waves, drought and wildfires that resulted in the destruction of the village of Lytton on June 30.

Bibeau said she was waiting for a request from B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham to retrigger the program. Popham said Nov. 17 that thousands of farm animals have perished due to the flooding, affecting hundreds of producers, and that “many, many more” surviving animals will need feed and veterinary care.

Multiple highways and rail links have been closed or washed out due to flooding and mudslides, limiting the ability of producers to obtain feed or bring their goods to market.

The Canadian military has been brought in to help the hard-hit Fraser Valley, which is where much of B.C.’s dairy and poultry sectors are concentrated.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun has said the cost of repairing damaged infrastructure in his community could be as high as $1 billion. The unfolding crisis caused B.C. to declare a state of emergency Nov. 17.

During a news conference Nov. 18 in Washington, D.C., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said “the folks in British Columbia are going through extremely difficult times right now and the federal government is working with the provincial government and everyone on the ground to help them as best we can.”

He said he had convened the federal Incident Response Group involving Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, adding he also had held multiple conversations with everyone from B.C. Premier John Horgan to affected mayors.

“We’ll work with the province, with industry, and all other partners on logistics, on repairs, and getting goods moving.”

Many B.C. farmers have been cut off from feed as well as routes needed to get their goods to market.

“This is an especially difficult time for our livestock producers,” said Popham. “We will make sure that disaster relief funds are available for farmers, and that we’re supporting them in every step of the way.”

Abbotsford is the location of the provincial Animal Health Centre, which is one of the leading veterinary labs in Western Canada. It was closed on Nov. 16 due to flooding, affecting things such as disease testing as well as vital testing of milk supplies, said Popham.

During the tour of Olds College, Alberta Agriculture Minister Nate Horner said Nov. 18 his ministry had been working with counterparts in B.C. “to see how we can assess their needs and whether that means picking up diagnostic tests.”

Popham said Saskatchewan had also reached out to offer lab services, “so that’s going to make a big difference as we try to get on our feet.”

She added support had also been offered by Ontario.

Horner said B.C. has asked Alberta for help with feed.

“We have been in contact with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. They had some feed on the go and we’re looking for more, but our feed challenges are well documented so that could be difficult, but we’re seeing what we can do.”

Much of Western Canada was affected by heat waves and drought this summer, resulting in widespread feed shortages that forced many beef producers to reduce the size of their herds.

As part of a working group of B.C. cabinet ministers formed to deal with the flooding, Popham said Nov. 17 many farm animals were facing difficult situations.

She and her colleagues were “developing routes so that veterinarians can access farms and get to the animals as soon as possible. There will have to be euthanizations that happen, but there are also animals who have survived that are going to be in critical need for food in the next 24 hours.”