Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dresheen and finance minister Travis Toews announced Feb. 10 that up to $2 million is being made available under the Efficient Grain Dryer Program to producers upgrading their grain handling equipment.
The program is being funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year $3 billion commitment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to support Canada’s agriculture sector.
According to a news release from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, producers will be able to share up to 50 per cent of the costs of new grain drying equipment under the program.
Notably, the program will be retroactive to April 1, 2018 to accommodate those who may not have known about the program and purchased eligible equipment since then, as well as other applicants to the program who have been waiting for grants.
The release noted that applicants will be able to choose equipment that makes sense for the size and volume of their agri-business and improve energy efficiency within their operations.
“We’re working to make sure that it actually makes sense as to what the actual upgrades can be,” noted Dresheen.
During the announcement, both Dresheen and Toews alluded to the fact that the 2019 season proved to be a difficult one for many Alberta producers.
Dresheen said this was an important announcement in terms of recognizing the difficult year that producers just went through and the challenges they faced in previous years.
While some parts of Alberta continued to suffer from a lack of rainfall, the Town & Country region was best by long periods of cool, wet weather.
Cold temperatures and excessive moisture meant that many local producers were unable to get all of their crops off their fields, and those who did harvest most or all of their crops will need to rely on grain dryers.
In November, the County of Barrhead officially declared an agricultural disaster as per the recommendation of the municipality’s Agricultural Service Board (ASB).
One of the factors in the ASB’s recommendation was that virtually every bushel harvested in the county would need to be dried, which would increase costs and limit marketing decisions for some producers.
Dresheen also alluded to the fact that the new federal carbon levy is compounding difficulties for producers, noting that his department had estimated it was adding $7 million on to the costs of propane and natural gas for producers.
The Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) issued a release on Feb. 12 calling on the federal government to provide an exemption from the carbon levy for fuel used on Canadian farms, including the fuel used in grain dryers.
“These costs are adding up and Canada’s grain farmers cannot continue to pay the price for inaction,” said GGC president Jeff Nielsen.
“A complete exemption for all fuels used on the farm is what we need to avoid these crises in the future and provide farmers with the resources to continue what we do best.”
Nielsen added this will not be the last time Canadian farmers face a tough harvest, and they need a legislative and regulatory environment that reflects the contributions Canadian farmers have made and continue to make towards addressing climate change.
