Cdn. ag COVID-19 supports are part of overall plan

May 19, 2020

Ottawa continues to work on measures to support the industry, a government spokesperson said

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The federal government wants Canadian farmers to know it’s doing all it can to support the ag sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $252 million in federal assistance Prime Minister Trudeau announced for the sector on May 5 is only part of the plan to support the ag industry, said Oliver Anderson, director of communications for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“The prime minister’s announcement was perceived by the sector as being the (only) response,” he told Farms.com. “We’re asking farmers not to judge us by the $252-million announcement alone because it doesn’t represent the full scale of the government’s response to the situation.”

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture estimated the sector needs $2.6 billion to help maintain food security during the pandemic.

The May 5 funding announcement included $125 million through AgriRecovery to manage the backlog of cattle and hogs, up to $50 million to purchase surplus food and $77.5 million to help processors purchase protective equipment for employees and adapt to health protocols.

The assistance was in addition to other measures like setting aside $50 million to help farmers access temporary foreign workers and increasing Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC’s) lending capacity to $5 billion.

“There was a feeling that we were already planning on increasing capacity for FCC but that wasn’t the case,” Anderson said. “It was part of a larger government program to help sure up financial institutions so they can pass off those benefits to their customers.”

One additional measure Ottawa is taking is increasing the Canadian Dairy Commission’s (CDC’s) borrowing capacity from $300 million to $500 million to buy and store surplus cheese and butter.

“The (CDC) can buy it off of the processors and it will help stabilize the market because a lot of the milk is being wasted,” Anderson said. “They’ll be able to store $200 million more of cheese and butter and then be able to sell that back into the market.”

Members of Parliament in the House of Commons introduced and passed a bill on Wednesday that amends the Canadian Dairy Commission Act. The Senate passed the bill on Friday.

Video: Is China Buying US Soybeans + USDA Nov 14th Crop Report could be “Game Changing”

After a week of a U.S./China trade truce, markets/trade is skeptical that we have not seen a signed agreement nor heard much from China or seen any details. There are rumors that China is buying soybean futures & not the physical. Trust in Trump?
12 MMT of U.S. soybean purchases by China by year-end is better than 0 but we all need to give it more time and give it a chance to unfold. China did lower the tariffs on Ag and is buying U.S. wheat and sorghum.
U.S. supreme court could rule against Trumps tariffs, but the Trump administration does have a plan B.
U.S. government shutdown is now the longest in history at 38 days.
But despite a U.S. government shutdown we will be getting a USDA November crop report next Friday and it could be “game changing.” If the USDA provides a bullish surprise with lower U.S. corn and soybean yields and ending stocks that are lower than expected both corn and soybean futures will break out above their ceilings at $4.35/bu and $11.35/bu respectively.
The funds continued their selling in live and feeder cattle futures on continued fears that the Trump administration want to lower U.S. beef prices. The fundamentals have not changed, only market psychology has.
Stocks markets continue to worry about a weak U.S. job market, but you can blame ChatGPT for that. In the future, we will have a more efficient, productive and growing economy with a higher unemployment rate until we have more skilled AI workers.
After 34 new record highs in the S & P 500 and 124 new records in the NASDAQ in 2025 we are back to a correction and investor profit taking as AI valuations may have gotten too stretched near-term ahead of NVDA’s 3rd quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 19th. But this is not an AI bubble.
75% of Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk!
It has rained in South America in the last 7 days, but both the American and European models agree that Central Brazil remains dry in the next 14-days!

Bredenhofs named B.C./Yukon Outstanding Young Farmers

Calling for Secretary Perdue’s resignation