The RMA has released an updated version of A Guide for Declaring Municipal Agricultural Disasters in Alberta
The RMA re-released an updated version of A Guide for Declaring Municipal Agricultural Disasters in Alberta after consultation with the Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) to clarify the corporation’s role in municipal agricultural disaster declarations.
AFSC is a provincial Crown corporation that provides farmers, agribusinesses, and other small businesses with loans, crop insurance, and farm income disaster assistance. AFSC provides information that may be helpful to municipalities considering an agricultural disaster declaration through the following mechanisms:
- Insurance Program Response: Detailed information on how AFSC’s existing insurance products respond to specific conditions are made available on the AFSC website. This would include options for putting deteriorating crops to alternate use to address a shortage of feed in an area.
- AgriStability Response: How AgriStability responds can be posted on the AFSC website along with procedures for obtaining an advance under this program.
- AgriRecovery Process: Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation is the lead on AgriRecovery initiatives. AFSC helps in the assessments and delivery of these initiatives. AgriRecovery is designed to cover the extraordinary costs related to producers to resume production or mitigate the impacts after a disaster. It is not intended to assist in the extraordinary costs of reoccurring disaster events that are addressed through existing business risk management (BRM) programs, federal or provincial assistance mechanisms, or other private sector risk management tools.
- Agriculture and Irrigation, along with AFSC staff, can provide municipalities with detailed information on what is required to trigger an AgriRecovery response.
A Guide for Declaring Municipal Agricultural Disasters in Alberta can be found here. Members interested in obtaining the guide in Microsoft Word format can contact the undersigned.
Kallie Wischoff
Policy Advisor
825.319.2245
kallie@RMAlberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@RMAlberta.com