The NDP Opposition is calling on the province to support livestock producers facing drought-induced feed shortages.
NDP Agriculture Critic Diljeet Brar says producers need real support, with programs that actually help them to avoid financial disaster.
“A crisis like this deserves real action.”
Severe heat conditions, an extended drought, and a grasshopper infestation throughout the summer decimated feed supply for livestock. Many ranchers have had to auction off parts of their herd earlier than usual, many of them at a financial loss.
The Manitoba NDP says after consultations with cattle producers, they’ve identified a targeted support package that would help them mitigate financial losses and stabilize their business operations.
The NDP urged the PC Government to offer a zero percent interest lending program with a 15-year payback to help cattle producers continue to breed their herds and to ensure beef prices remain affordable for Manitoba families, work with the federal government to offer a Freight and Feed Assistance Program that would subsidize the cost of feed supplies, and to temporarily reduce lease payments for Crown lands by 50 percent.
