The provincial government is investing $5 million towards helping protect farms from animal diseases.
This comes in response to diseases, including Avian influenza leaving an impact on multiple farms and ranches in BC. The investment hopes to help farmers and ranchers plan, prepare, prevent, and mitigate animal diseases on their property by providing emergency planning and training for both the livestock and poultry sector.
President of the BC Egg Producers Association Mark Siemens says this new funding will help them plan and mitigate the impacts of these diseases moving forward.
“Poultry farmers particularly appreciate the fact that this funding is available to a wide variety of applicants so we can take advantage of best practices from across the animal agriculture sector,” says Siemens.
Along with business planning and research, equipment purchases will be a part of the funding to help in responding to an animal disease outbreak.
It’s the next step after the province recently announced plans to invest in a new Animal Health Centre. They hope the center will ensure a more robust response to disease and enhanced testing in the future.
