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Feds, Ontario help tree fruit growers with 2012 frost

January 10, 2013  By OMAFRA


Frost damage to an apple bloom.

January 10, 2012, Guelph, Ont – The governments of Canada and Ontario are providing additional support for tree fruit growers whose crops were damaged last year.

An unseasonably warm spring in 2012 caused some fruit trees across Ontario to bloom early. A subsequent frost caused severe damage to blooms and emerging fruit buds.

Canada and Ontario are providing up to $2 million through non-business risk management (BRM) programming for tree fruit growers to develop mitigation strategies to address frost damage. This is in addition to an estimated $74 million that will be paid out through BRM programs, including Production Insurance, AgriStability and Ontario’s Self-Directed Risk Management program.

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Any Ontario producer with more than $7,000 in tender fruit or apple income in their 2011 tax year who will be producing these commodities in 2013 is eligible. Provisions will be made for producers who began production in the 2012 or 2013 tax year.

Workbooks to help producers develop their own risk mitigation strategies for adverse weather will be available from Agricorp in late January, along with additional information and guidelines. Completed workbooks must be submitted by February 28.

An assessment of the 2012 frost event under the federal-provincial-territorial AgriRecovery Framework found that the comprehensive assistance available under business risk management programs sufficiently addresses the resulting income and production losses. A summary of the AgriRecovery assessment regarding the frost is available here.


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