The federal government is investing $7.5 million under the Emergency On-Farm Support Fund to help Quebec farmers better protect the health and safety of farm workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government says in a news release on Nov. 3.
“With this program, Quebec farmers will have the support they need to ensure the right measures are in place to safeguard their employees’ health and safety and limit the spread of the virus,” Marie-Claude Bibeau, minister of agriculture and agri-food, says in the news release.
Farmers can apply for funding to improve living quarters and work stations for worker, on or off-farm temporary or emergency housing, personal protective equipment, sanitary stations, work stations and other other health and safety measures, the release notes.
Applications will be accepted through La Financiere Agricole du Quebec from Dec. 14, 2020 to Feb. 26, 2021. The financial assistance consists of a lump sum of up to two per cent of salaries or 50 per cent of eligible expenses declared by the farm. The financial assistance can be increased to 2.4 per cent of salaries or to 60 per cent of eligible expenses when the business is majority owned by women, young farmers under 40, people with disabilities, members of visible minorities or Indigenous peoples.
