On Thursday, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau announced that so far 9, 682 dairy farmers have registered under the second year of the Dairy Direct Payment Program. Their payments will total $459.4 million. To receive a payment, registrations needed to be signed and received no later than March 31, 2021. Remaining payments are being delivered in April 2021.

“Our government is getting payments out to dairy producers at twice the speed we had originally announced. With a second round of direct payments now being finalized, our Government is delivering on our promise of full and fair compensation, while ensuring our dairy farmers remain a strong and vibrant part of our rural communities,” said Bibeau.

The Government of Canada has now made up to $813 million available to Canada’s dairy producers under the first two years of this $1.75 billion program.

These payments are part of the government’s commitment to provide full and fair compensation to supply-managed sectors for market access concessions made under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Combined with the $250-million CETA on-farm investment program, these payments make up a total $2 billion compensation package for dairy farmers.

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