December 21, 2020
Ontario beef farmers can apply for funding through the Canada-Ontario COVID-19 AgriRecovery Beef Emergency Feed Maintenance Initiative to help cover increased costs of feeding and setting aside market-ready cattle due to COVID-19 related processing delays.
Due to the backlog that is resulting from a reduction in processing capacity at livestock processing plants, beef farmers can apply to keep their feedlot cattle or cull cows on farm for an additional 63 days.
Intake for the initiative will be assessed on a weekly basis. Information will be posted on agricorp.com when each intake opens, and will include any additional details. Applications for the first intake period must be submitted by December 22, 2020 at 5:00pm. The first intake set-aside period will begin on Monday December 28.
Who is eligible?
Cattle farmers can apply if they own market-ready feedlot cattle or cull cows that they must keep on-farm due to processing delays resulting from a COVID-19 related processing delays. Cattle accepted for enrolment must be kept on farm for a set-aside period of 63 days to be eligible for a payment, or must receive approval to be released early. If cattle are approved for enrolment, the set-aside period will begin the following Monday.
To be eligible for enrolment, cattle must meet the following requirements:
- The average weight of each lot of cattle is 1400 pounds live weight for feedlot cattle steers and 1300 pounds live weight for feedlot cattle heifers.
- Enrolled feedlot cattle are expected to make Grade "A" upon being processed, and culled cows are expected to make Grade "D" upon being processed.
A Premises ID is required for the location where the cattle are fed. If you don't have one, please contact Agricorp, or sign up at https://www.ontariopid.com/en-CA/.
Applicants may not enroll more than 500 Surplus Animals per intake period.
For more information about eligibility and how the initiative works, please read the 
Program Guidelines.
How to apply
Eligible cattle farmers can complete the Application Form and email it to [email protected] by December 22, 2020, at 5:00 p.m.
Download a form
For best results, download the form directly to your computer and open it using Adobe Reader 10 or later.
- Right-click the form link and save the file to your computer.
- In Adobe Reader, click File > Open.
- Locate the form in the downloads folder on your computer.
Note: Fillable forms are not supported on most mobile devices and some web browsers.
If you have trouble opening the form, please call Agricorp for assistance.
Get payments up to seven days faster
Farmers have enough to do without the hassles of cheques. They can get cash in their account five to seven days faster with direct deposit. Direct deposit is convenient, reliable and secure.
To sign up, farmers can call Agricorp or go to agricorp.com/directdeposit. All farmers need is a void cheque and a few minutes of their time to make things a little easier.
About AgriRecovery
The Canada-Ontario COVID-19 AgriRecovery Beef Emergency Feed Maintenance Initiative is an AgriRecovery program funded by the federal and provincial governments. AgriRecovery provides targeted, disaster-specific programming when assistance is needed beyond existing programs like AgriStability, Production Insurance or the Risk Management Program.
Related stories
