Federal and Provincial Governments Provide On- Farm Support for COVID-19 Response Activities

The province of Ontario and the Federal government have both enhanced and expanded their COVID-19 supports for farmers in two recent programs.

1. The Emergency On-Farm Support Fund
2. The Enhanced Agri-Food Workplace Protection Program

The Emergency On-Farm Support Fund (EOFSF) was announced on July 31, 2020 and provides $35 million to boost protections for domestic and temporary foreign workers and address COVID-19 outbreaks on farms.

The program will assist agricultural producers with some of the incremental costs for activities that improve the health and safety of all farm workers, domestic and temporary foreign workers (TFWs) by limiting the spread of COVID-19 in agricultural operations.

The program will provide up to $100,000 per recipient in non-repayable funding for emergency COVID-19 response activities.

Eligible activities can be retroactive to March 15, 2020 and must be completed by February 26, 2021.

The Enhanced Agri-Food Workplace Protection Program will expand the province’s Agri-Food Workplace Protection program which provides support for farmers and other operations to assist with preventative occupational health and safety measures. This new federal and provincial program doubles the previous amount Ontario farmers can claim for preventative expenses, to $15,000.