Alberta’s agriculture and rural development programming returns to “normal levels” of spending in the province’s 2008 budget, released Tuesday.
Finance Minister Iris Evans’ budget brings ag department program spending to just over $1 billion for 2008-09 and for each of the next three years, a 16.9 per cent increase over forecast spending for 2007-08.
“The increase reflects a return to normal levels of spending and activity in (the provincial government’s) Agriculture Financial Services Corp.’s insurance and financial support programs after a particularly stable and prosperous 2007 growing season,” the ag department said in a release.
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No new or ad-hoc farm programs were announced in Tuesday’s budget. The province’s support was noted for the federal/provincial Growing Forward agreement, which next year is to fully replace the expiring Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) for ag programming.
Growing Forward’s business risk management programming, including the AgriStability, AgriInsurance, AgriRecovery and AgriInvest programs, is already in place for this year while the APF’s other four pillars are extended to next April at the latest.
Looking ahead, the province expects its new Land-use Framework to begin to come into effect in 2008-09, with $7 million budgeted in 2008-09 and a total of $42 million provided over three years.
That framework, which falls under the sustainable resource development department’s jurisdiction, is expected to “address competing uses of land and provide a sustainable approach that balances economic, environmental and social concerns.”
The provincial transportation department gets a 6.6 per cent budget increase in 2008-09, noting “increased rehabilitation work on highways throughout the province” to come. Major road projects include Edmonton and Calgary’s ring roads, the north-south trade corridor and a number of highways serving the Fort McMurray area, home to Alberta’s oil sands.
Overall, provincial revenue for 2008-09 is estimated to hit $38.6 billion, $11.7 billion of which will come from resource revenue. Expenses for 2008-09 are estimated at $37 billion, up from an expected $33.7 billion in 2007-08. That leaves an estimated 2008-09 budget surplus of $1.6 billion, down from an expected $4 billion for 2007-08.
