Fourth round of compensation now available for Canadian dairy farmers

Dec 20, 2022

OTTAWA, ON, - The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced that the fourth payment under the Dairy Direct Payment Program (DDPP) is now available to dairy producers.

Dairy farmers will receive compensation payments based on their milk quota. For example, the owner of an 80 head dairy farm will receive $38,000 in direct payment compensation. The compensation for this fourth round of payments totals up to $468 million.

To get their payment, producers must register through the Canadian Dairy Commission before March 31, 2023. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has mailed letters to all eligible dairy producers with instructions on the application process.

This fourth payment completes full and fair compensation to dairy producers for the impact of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The Government of Canada recently announced compensation of up to $1.2 billion over six years under the DDPP to account for the impacts of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

As of 2024, the owner of a farm with 80 milking cows may receive compensation through a direct payment of about $106,000 in six yearly instalments on a declining scale. These funds give producers the flexibility to invest according to their individual needs.

Through the 2022 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada announced up to $1.7 billion in compensation to supply-managed sectors for the impacts of CUSMA. With this announcement, the Government delivers on its commitment to fully and fairly compensate producers and processors who have lost market share under CETA, CPTPP and CUSMA. The total compensation will reach up to $4.8 billion.

The Government of Canada firmly believes that Canada's supply-managed sectors are the pillars of rural communities' vitality. The system provides producers with the opportunity to receive fair returns on their labour and investments, while consumers benefit from a steady supply of high-quality products.

Source : Newswire.ca

Video: Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Understanding how a plant responds to stress is one thing.

Using that knowledge to make better management decisions is another.

Systemic acquired resistance, or SAR, is the plant's more direct defense response. When stress or infection occurs, the plant begins signaling throughout its system and preparing defensive compounds.

But if we know that response exists, can we help prepare the plant before the stress arrives?

The answer starts with understanding what triggers the response and what the plant needs to carry it out.

The Trigger and the Fuel

Salicylic acid plays an important role in triggering the SAR pathway.

Think of it as turning the truck on.

The engine may be running, but it still needs fuel to do the work.

In this case, manganese plays an important role in supporting the enzyme systems involved in the plant's defensive response.

This makes manganese status an important part of the conversation. Whether a producer is using tissue testing, sap analysis, or simply scouting for visible deficiency symptoms, the goal is to make sure the plant has adequate manganese available.

Manganese is required in relatively small amounts, but that does not make its role small.

If the plant receives a signal to defend itself but lacks the nutrition needed to support that response, it may struggle to carry out the process efficiently.

The trigger matters.

The fuel matters too.

Prepare Before the Stress Arrives

The best time to think about stress management is before the plant is overwhelmed.

Once a crop is already struggling, management can quickly turn into a game of catch-up.

This is similar to nitrogen management. Once a plant becomes severely deficient, correcting the problem does not necessarily erase the time and yield potential already lost.

Plant defense can work the same way.

Low-rate, targeted approaches designed to support the SAR pathway may fit best ahead of an expected stress event rather than after significant damage has already occurred.

That requires producers to think about predictable stress.

We may not know exactly what the weather will do tomorrow, but we generally know summer heat is coming. We know certain field conditions increase disease pressure. We know a herbicide application can temporarily stress a crop as the plant processes the chemistry.

Even a properly timed and labeled herbicide application can create a temporary response in the plant.

That does not mean the herbicide is bad.

Weeds can create significantly more yield loss than the temporary stress caused by controlling them.

The question is not whether we should eliminate every stressor.

The question is whether we can better prepare the plant to manage necessary and predictable stress.

Not All Stress Is Bad

Stress is a normal part of plant growth.

A perfectly stress-free environment does not exist in the field.

In fact, some stress is necessary for normal plant development. A plant responds to wind, temperature, moisture, sunlight, and countless other environmental signals throughout the season.

The environment is stress.

The plant's job is to manage it.

Problems begin when the stress load becomes greater than the plant's ability to respond.

Extreme heat, drought, high salt concentrations, disease pressure, and even certain management practices can add to that load.

This is where understanding SAR becomes useful.

Instead of waiting until the plant is visibly struggling, producers can begin identifying periods when stress is likely and make management decisions around those windows.

ISR Starts With the Soil

While SAR is a more direct defense response, induced systemic resistance, or ISR, brings the conversation back to soil health.

The longevity of a farm is closely connected to the health of its soil.

Carbon plays a major role because it supports biological life within the soil. Bacteria, fungi, and other organisms interact with plant roots and influence how the plant grows, accesses nutrients, and prepares for stress.

This is why soil health cannot be reduced to one product or one application.

It is a system.

Keeping living plants in the field longer can support biological activity. Cover crops may fit some operations. Better water management can improve soil conditions.