October 27, 2023 – Edmonton, Alberta – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 

Applications open October 30 for the 2023 Canada-Alberta Drought Livestock Assistance program, providing livestock producers with up to $165 million to maintain breeding herds.

The governments of Alberta and Canada are partnering on the 2023 Canada-Alberta Drought Livestock Assistance program to support livestock producers facing extraordinary costs due to this year’s dry conditions. Funding for this joint AgriRecovery initiative is through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP).

Livestock producers who altered their usual grazing practices due to drought conditions for more than 21 days this season can apply for financial support to cover losses incurred to manage and maintain female breeding animals such as cattle, bison, horses, elk, sheep, goats, alpacas, yak, musk ox, deer, water buffalo and llamas. A minimum of 15 animals per type of livestock are required to qualify.

Benefits will be based on a feed-need calculation for feed costs incurred resulting from lost grazing days for eligible breeding animals on hand as of December 31, 2023. Eligible producers could access up to $150 per head to help maintain the breeding herd in drought regions.

Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) will administer the initiative and livestock producers can get more information and apply online on AFSC’s website. The application deadline is January 15, 2024 and extraordinary costs can be incurred until March 31, 2024.

This announcement is part of a larger disaster response totaling $365 million in federal-provincial cost-shared funding under the AgriRecovery Framework to help farmers and ranchers in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan with extraordinary costs due to this year’s extreme weather conditions.

Producers already have access to a comprehensive suite of business risk management (BRM) programs that are the first line of defense for producers facing disasters, including AgriStability, AgriInsurance and AgriInvest. With joint funding from the federal government and provinces, these BRM programs provide protection against different types of income and production losses.

The federal government also announced an initial list of designated regions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba where Livestock Tax Deferral has been authorized for 2023 due to extreme weather conditions.