Canada: Govts. invest millions to help farmers
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart announced an investment of $7.4 million to help farmers become more innovative and profitable.
Through the Agricultural Demonstration of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) program and the Agriculture-Applied Research Management (Agri-ARM) program, producers will be able to discover and apply new technologies that can improve their farming operations.
“This investment furthers our government’s commitment to producers and to the continued growth of Canada’s agriculture industry as a whole,” said Minister Ritz. “We have made it clear from the beginning that making smart investments in research and innovation will help Canadian farmers remain profitable now and in the future.”
“The enhancements to the Agri-ARM program were developed in response to direct feedback from producer groups,” Stewart said. “These programs provide producers with better access to the technology that will help them grow their businesses, and make sure that our advancements in research move from the lab to the producer to create long-term benefits.”
The two levels of government will provide $3.4 million over the next five years to assist Agri-ARM sites with operating and capital investments. Agri-ARM connects eight regional applied research and demonstration sites into a province-wide network. Each location has an affiliated producer group that sets the research priorities for that site. These sites serve as centres for applied research and demonstration, focusing on increasing value from crops and enhancing production efficiency and environmental stewardship in the region.
Through the ADOPT program, $4 million is available over the next five years to accelerate the transfer of new technologies to Saskatchewan’s farmers and ranchers. The program provides funding to producer groups to evaluate and demonstrate new agriculture practices and technologies at the local level.
“Research is important to the growth of the wheat industry in Saskatchewan,” Wheat Development Commission interim Chair Cherilyn Nagel said. “With the local Agri-ARM sites and ADOPT program producers are able to see research that they can put into practice right away in their operations.”
“SaskCanola values this investment as it allows canola producers to see how new practices and technologies work under local conditions,” SaskCanola Chair Joan Heath said.
Support for these programs is provided under the federal-provincial Growing Forward 2 framework, a $3-billion investment in innovation, competitiveness and market development, which includes $2 billion cost-shared on a 60:40 basis for programs delivered by provinces and territories (a 50 per cent increase in cost-shared funding), as well as $1 billion for federal-only strategic initiatives.
For more information on the programs, visit the Saskatchewan Agriculture website here.
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