B.C. farmers urged to save receipts, keep photo journals in preparation for government flood relief
CTV
Document everything. That's the message B.C.'s Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham had last week for farmers recovering from the devastating floods and landslides that wreaked havoc on the province in November.
Document everything. That's the message B.C.'s Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham had last week for farmers recovering from the devastating floods and landslides that wreaked havoc on the province in November.
Popham said officials in the provincial and federal governments are working on "agri-recovery" programs to support farmers affected by the disaster, and specific information about the damage each facility sustained will be important for providing the necessary funding for repairs and remediation.
"The tour that I had with federal Minister (of Agriculture Marie-Claude) Bibeau last Friday was critically important as we kind of tie down the final details on our agri-recovery program that's being developed," Popham said during a news conference on Dec. 15.
"One thing I think that was very important for Minister Bibeau to see is that we've got a situation from one end of the spectrum to the other."
That includes chicken farms that have come through the flooding relatively unscathed and are back up and running, Popham said, as well as fruit and vegetable farms that have seen this year's crops ruined and - in some cases - future years' as well.
"Every farm is going to be a different situation and we want to make sure that nobody's falling through the cracks as we develop this program," the B.C. minister said.
Recovery from the flooding in places like Abbotsford's Sumas Prairie is already well underway, even as financial assistance programs for the affected farmers are still in development.
