Money remaining from the federal government’s hog farm transition program (HFTP) is headed to at least some producers who failed to make the cut during the program’s fourth tender.
The HFTP, budgeted for $75 million when established in late 2009, aimed to help eligible pork producers leave the industry by paying them to idle production for at least three years.
The program, open to eligible producers in operation as of April 1, 2009, saw 420 of them share $70.521 million in funding.
In four separate tenders, producers submitted bids to idle an agreed amount of production for 36 months.
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The fourth tender in March saw 93 successful bidders share a total allocation of $14.2 million.
“Residual” HFTP funds are now being used to honour bids next in line, the Canadian Pork Council said in a June 2 notice.
Those producers have received letters telling them they now have successful bids and they are eligible for HFTP payments.
The CPC, which operated the program on Ottawa’s behalf, requires confirmation of participation by a deadline based on the date producers were notified of their eligibility.
Producers are asked to contact the HFTP administrator “as soon as possible” to confirm if they still plan to cease production and accept their payment. If not, the process “will be repeated for other producers until residual funds have been fully committed.”
The pork council also said the HFTP appeals committee has rendered decisions on all appeals submitted before the April 15 deadline.
