Concern about feeding animals and planting crops exists across the country.Ottawa—Farmers across the country need quick access to financial assistance or food production could take a hit in the coming months, says a wide cross section of the farm community.To the end of April, the requests haven't moved the government beyond repeating previous announcements about extending enrolment deadline of AgriStability to July, possible changes to Business Risk Management program to be announced in July to come into effect in 2021 and studying specific proposals to help support producers who are significantly impacted by this crisis.That led the Canadian Federation of Agriculture to request a $2.6 billion emergency fund to help maintain food security in Canada. The figure is based “on estimates of the immediate impacts of COVID-19 provided by agricultural commodity groups across the country.”It's needed to deal with extra costs and losses caused by the shut down of the food service sector, processing plant closures and other supply chain disruptions and increases in labour and associated costs to the end of April.Additional costs will continue to mount as farmers deal with the impacts of the pandemic which are not covered by any of the new government programs or the existing Business Risk Management programs.“This emergency fund for immediate impacts of COVID-19 should only be seen as the first phase of emergency funding, to persevere through the issues the sector is facing today,” CFA said. “It is very probable that more support will be required in the coming year as unforeseen challenges continue to emerge throughout the food supply chain.”The Canadian Cattlemen's Association said its producers could lose $500 million by the end of June largely due to packing plants being closed or working at lower capacity.“Losses of this magnitude would be catastrophic for the 60,00 beef operations and 228,800 people in Canada who depend on the beef industry to provide for their families. Sufficient business risk management tools, implemented without delay, will be paramount to ensuring Canadian beef production can manage through the COVID-19 pandemic.”The Canadian Pork Council said financial losses among its farmers “will be passed on to the consumer through loss of food security and higher costs due to the economic hardship being faced by the entire industry.”Financial aid is needed to cover the cost of keeping pigs longer because of a significant drop in processing capacity at plants forced to close or reduce throughput because of COVID-19 outbreaks among their workers, he told a news conference. “We need help in a matter of days.”Mushrooms Canada wants $25 million in emergency funding because the cost of the COVID measures to its members has been staggering. “Mushrooms is continuous harvest so we are on the front end of an ugly dragon that is moving through Canadian agriculture.”The farmers have gained support from a group of prominent Senators who have called on the government to act quickly. “Every effort should be undertaken to assist in quickly restoring harvest and processing capacity and to ensure business continuity,” they said in a joint letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.Support measures announced so far by the government and the current suite of business risk management programs “are clearly insufficient to address the enormous market losses and concerns that are impacting Canadian producers.“The time to invest in Canada's agriculture industry is now. Market stability and producer confidence will enable sound business decisions and investments to continue to be made across the sector,” they said. “A proactive strategic assistance approach to the industry will help avoid costly payouts from the AgriStability program that is helpful for addressing losses but is more reactive in nature.”The Pork Council said “the seriousness and the urgency of the situation and demand swift action. Governments don't need to reinvent the wheel; they have the tools to fix this problem. Canadians risk seeing food shortages if governments do not step forward with the support farmers need to keep producing food before the end of the month.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.