B.C. floods: $228M announced in agriculture recovery efforts, officials say

A $228 million recovery package has been announced nearly three months after historic floods devastated B.C.'s South Coast.

In a news conference Monday, the federal and provincial agriculture ministers said the funding will go towards the hard-hit agricultural sector.

Record rainstorms in mid-November caused major flooding in farm fields, barns and homes, as well as killing thousands of livestock, particularly in the Sumas Prairie.

B.C.'s Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham said this funding is the largest recovery program for the sector in the province's history and the aid will be available to farmers who suffered imaginable losses during the floods.

"We're helping farmers get their businesses back on track, as well as supporting our food security and our food economy," said Popham.

Popham said the flood recovery program will cover expenses in four main areas that are not covered by existing government programs or private insurance. They include the following:

• Clean-up, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, as well as water and waste systems;
• Repair of uninsurable essential farm infrastructure and on-farm structures such as livestock containment fences;
• Animal welfare, replacement feed, livestock transportation and veterinary care;
• Loss of perennial plants not raised for resale, such as blueberry plants.

"Our dairy, poultry, beef and hog farms experienced serious losses of animals and infrastructure, and more than 7,500 tonnes of field vegetables were lost as well as damages to many other crops," said Popham.

"The flooding and landslides resulted in the largest ever agricultural disaster in B.C.'s history and arguably one of the worst years ever for farming in our province."

Popham said she believes the floods caused about $285 million in damages in the agricultural sector and hopes this aid helps the food system recover.

"In our conversations with farmers, we heard stories of frustration and anger. But even more than that, we heard stories about people coming together to help one another," said federal Minister of Agriculture Marie-Claude Bibeau.

"We know the road to recovery will not be easy. But our farmers are not walking this road alone."

Abbotsford vegetable farmer and head of the local cole crop growers association Opinder Bhatti said he lost about 56 acres of cabbage and Brussels sprouts, at a cash value of $750,000. He isn’t convinced help will come for everyone, in particular vegetable growers, or fast enough.

“I had hope, but not anymore,” he said. “We don’t own 500 acres. We rent lands, and we have to pay the rent...this is an emergency, we need funding now.”

Bhatti said in the meantime, farms still have to find a way to manage.

“We’re going to get more loans,” he said. “We will be in debt.”

In an interview with CTV Morning Live Monday, Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said farmers in need of aid will vary depending on where their farm is located.

"Some farmers on Sumas Prairie never saw any water in their barns," he said. "Where others lost, especially in the poultry side, their whole flocks. So even within the supply management chain there's different impacts on different farmers."

Braun added that blueberry farmers in particular will need some support getting back on their feet.

"They're going to need some help if the plants are dead because they'll have to replant and you don't get a blueberry crop for years," said Braun.

"But other farmers tell me that their plants weren't totally underwater," he added. "Those plants I'm told will probably survive. So even there, we'll have to wait until the spring to see whose been impacted where."