Funding is now available for agriculture operations across PEI who have been affected by extraordinary costs of restoring and rebuilding infrastructure due to Hurricane Fiona.
The Prince Edward Island Agriculture Fiona Recovery Fund (PEIAgFRF) is open to agricultural operations who experienced significant infrastructure damage on insured assets from Hurricane Fiona and were not able to fully rebuild or replace the infrastructure through disaster relief supports. The program is available through an $8.5M investment from the Government of Canada, through the Atlantic Canadian Opportunities Agency (ACOA), and will be administered by the PEI Department of Agriculture.
The PEIAgFRF will provide funding to those in the agriculture industry looking to re-establish or maintain the viability of PEI agricultural industry through building back better, as well as to those looking to repair/rebuild/restore infrastructure and farm equipment to their regular capabilities pre-Fiona.
A full list of eligibility requirements will be available in the coming days on the PEIAgFRF webpage, however, farms and agricultural operations must have an immediate need, quantifiable loss or damage as a result of Hurricane Fiona. Eligible producers must have also exhausted all other sources of financial assistance including the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA), federal and provincial programs, and insurance.
More information, including how to apply, will be available on the PEI Agriculture Fiona Recovery Fund webpage in the coming days.
Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for ACOA: “Many farmers on PEI are still dealing with devastation Hurricane Fiona brought, and we have been there to help on the journey to recovery. This program, made possible by ACOA, will help people in the agriculture industry across PEI get back to doing what they do best.”
For more information:
Kip Ready
Department of Agriculture
Email: kjready@gov.pe.ca