After four years of waiting, dairy, poultry, and egg producers and processors in Canada will finally be compensated for the financial losses they incurred under the supply management system.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food in the federal government, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced this morning that the government will pay $1.7 billion to the sectors that suffered from the repercussions of the "Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA - USMCA)," the new version of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA").

The mentioned amount will be distributed among the various sectors in the form of direct payments and investment programs.

Also, the dairy producers sector will receive up to $1.2 billion, the poultry and egg producers sector up to $112 million, and the dairy, poultry, and egg processing sector up to $105 million.

For example, over the next six years, "a farm owner with 80 dairy cows can receive compensation in the form of direct payments amounting to $106,000 in six declining annual installments," as stated in a federal government statement.