Cattle producers on Prince Edward Island will get direct provincial payments as part of a $3 million support package announced Wednesday.
The funding package followed negotiations with cattle industry representatives is aimed at “new initiatives” to “assist producers to adjust to current market conditions and develop improved quality in their herds,” the province said in a release.
“Prince Edward Island cattle producers have never recovered since the BSE crisis devastated the industry in 2003,” said Agriculture Minister Neil LeClair in the release.
“The direct support to producers which I am announcing today will be a payment based on a combination of their average net sales and December 2007 inventory.”
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Support will also be provided for producers over three years to improve the genetic quality of their herds, he said. The move is expected to result in higher quality cattle for feedlots and the grade of cattle marketed through Atlantic Beef Products, the P.E.I. beef plant near Borden.
That funding will include “financial support to help producers improve herd health standards, to purchase or retain genetically superior replacement heifers and financial incentives to produce a high quality product to meet the beef plant’s market specifications,” LeClair said.
