More Options to Help Farmers Through COVID-19

May 20, 2020

The Federal Ag Minister made an announcement on Tuesday that should help farmers and ranchers through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marie Claude Bibeau says farmers can now directly benefit from changes to the Canada Emergency Business account. The minister says the government changed the eligibility to ensure farmers without payroll can now access the 40 thousand dollar interest free loan available under CEBA and up to 10 thousand of that will be forgiven if the rest is repaid by the end of 2022.

To qualify for the changes you must have a business account at a participating financial institution. As well, a Canada Revenue Agency business number and have to have filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return. Finally, you must have between $40,000 and $1.5 million in non-deferrable expenses. Some examples of expenses would be rent, utilities, property taxes, and insurance.

Jeff Nielsen with the grain growers of Canada called it a good step in the right direction for farmers and all Canadian small businesses.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.