2021 Flood Recovery Program for Food Security

If you’re an agriculture producer in the southwest, southeast, central, or northwest areas of British Columbia and Vancouver Island who was affected by flooding and landslides from November 14-16, 2021, you are eligible to apply for flood recovery assistance. The 2021 Canada-British Columbia Flood Recovery Program for Food Security responds to impacts on livestock and crops by providing financial aid to help offset costs of returning to production.

To maximize your return and make the process as efficient as possible, it’s crucial to know the requirements to qualify for assistance and what expenses are eligible. While an advisor can help walk you through the nuances of your specific situation, the fundamentals are as follows.

Farm Categorization

To facilitate the process of applying, the government has created one application form to access funding from two different programs (DFAA and AgriRecovery). Farms seeking financial aid have been designated into two categories.

Category 1: These are farms that meet all the following criteria:

1. Revenue between $10,000 and $2 million,
2. Less than the equivalent of 20 full time (FTE) employees,
3. Are owner-operated enterprises

Category 1 farms are eligible for assistance payments of up to 90 percent of eligible costs to a maximum of $3 million. Those eligible costs include:

• Flooding clean up
• Repair of uninsurable farm structure and production equipment
• Rental costs for alternative facility or pastures
• Extraordinary transportation costs
• Feeding and vet costs due to marketing delays
• Uninsurable breeding livestock mortality
• Perennial crop plant damages (limited to 70 percent compensation)

Category 2: These are operations with more than $2 million in revenue and/or more than 20 FTEs. Essentially it captures all operations that are too big to meet the criteria of Category 1.

Category 2 farms can receive assistance payments of up to 70 percent of eligible receipted costs to a maximum of $3 million. The eligible types of expenses are the same as those in Category 1.

Application Deadline and Process

The AgriRecovery application deadline is June 1, 2022. The process has a few steps:

1. Complete and submit the general application form indicating the schedules you will be claiming on. Make sure to include:
   • A copy of your most recent Canada Revenue Agency - Statement of Farming Activity (T2042 or T1273)
   • Your T2 if you’re incorporated
   • Your most recent BC Property Assessment
   • A copy of your private farm insurance policy
2. Contact program staff if you have any questions and before removing any perennial plants.
3. Take pictures and keep accurate records of labour and machinery used. Keep receipts for any contracted services or equipment rental.
4. Complete and submit the Schedules of Damage and Losses form(s) as you incur expenses. You are not required to complete all work before submitting a schedule. Work completed in stages can be compensated in stages.

Accessing AgriStability and other programs

Recovery payments may not cover all losses. You should work with your advisors to access other Business Risk Management programs like Crop Insurance and AgriStability for any drops in your income due to extra expenses and loss of production and income. 

The types of losses experienced, and the date of your year end, will impact which program year income losses and extra costs are accounted for. Producers can still enroll for the 2021 program year. April 30, 2022 is the deadline for enrolling in AgriStability for the 2022 program year. Farms with early year ends may actually incur flood related losses in the 2023 program year.

If your farm suffered losses in 2021 and you are not currently enrolled for the 2021 program year, you can now apply to enroll up until December 31, 2022 as a late participant. Initially, the only requirement is to submit a completed 2021 Late Participant Initial Declaration and Authorization Form and pay a $300 enrolment deposit by December 31, 2022.

Late registrants in the 2021 program will receive a 20 percent lower payment rate than those who proactively enrolled.

Consult with your advisor to ensure you are enrolled in AgriStability and take full advantage of this potentially valuable program.

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