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Feds reveal details of $35M fund to help make farms safer in COVID-19 pandemic

Oct 5, 2020 | 12:21 PM

OTTAWA — Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says some Canadian farmers can now apply for emergency funding to protect their workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program will subsidize farms’ purchases of personal protective equipment and sanitary stations and it will help to cover extra costs in cases of any COVID-19 outbreaks.

The government will cover 50 per cent of the costs under the program and 60 per cent if the owners of a farm are women or youths.

Farmers in Saskatchewan, Alberta, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and the Northwest Territories can apply. 

Bibeau says the government will announce programs that will be managed by the other provinces in the coming weeks.

The $35-million program was announced at the end of July to help with the costs of infrastructure improvements, workstations and living quarters.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 5, 2019.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press