Hurricane Fiona Support

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Hurricane Fiona Support

Hello everyone,

I want to provide some updated information about programs to support Nova Scotians who have been impacted by hurricane Fiona. Hopefully, you don’t need them! Those programs cover support for individuals, small businesses and non-profits, and agriculture and forestry.

Please visit this link to get the information: https://novascotia.ca/hurricane-fiona-support/.

Programs to highlight:

1.       Farm Emergency Response Grant Program

 

A one-time grant of $2,500 is being sent to registered farms in Central, Northern and Eastern Nova Scotia that experienced financial losses due to infrastructure or crop damage, livestock loss or extended power outages due to the hurricane. Funding from the $4-million Farm Emergency Response Grant Program is also available to registered farmers who experienced storm damage outside the most impacted regions. For more information, please contact the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture’s Programs Branch at 1-866-844-4276.

If you are a producer outside of the designated impacted regions of Hants, Halifax, Pictou, Cumberland, Colchester, Guysborough, Antigonish and Cape Breton, and suffered direct damage from Hurricane Fiona, please contact Robin Mahoney with Programs at 1-866-844-4276.

If you are an unregistered farm in the impacted areas, please contact Robin Mahoney at 1-866-844-4276.

2.       On-Farm Electrical Interruption Program

 https://novascotia.ca/programs/on-farm-electrical-interruption-assistance/

This program is providing $500,000 in federal and provincial funding through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership to offset costs to farm owners who installed a backup generator immediately before hurricane Fiona or during the extended power outages the storm caused. The program can over up to 100 per cent of the cost of purchasing and installing a generator for on-farm use. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a $3 billion, five-yar (2018-2023) investment by federal, provincial, and territorial governments to strengthen and grow Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector.

 

Additionally, there was the following announcement related to additional funding whose details have not yet been finalized:

Provincial Fiona Agricultural Program

Government is providing $6 million through the Provincial Fiona Agricultural Program to cover extraordinary operational costs experienced because of the storm. A simplified application process will be announced soon to ensure funding is dispersed quickly. Additional funding will also be available in the weeks and months ahead to help farmers with rebuilding costs that are not covered by other programs. An email will be sent out regarding this program once guidelines have been finalized, if you are interested in learning more about this program, please contact your local regional office to indicate as such.

Also, the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA) has a new website page just for Fiona, please visit this link to search for useful information for your purposes: https://nsfa-fane.ca/fiona/.

If I have more updates, I will communicate with you.

 

Take care,

Hugh