“We are in the process of putting the final touches on the progrAms that will support science and innovation for the next four years. It is a new incremental investment in science and innovation that wasn’t there before.”

– Marc Fortin

The federal government is committed to investing an additional $80 million into agricultural research, including wheat breeding, over four years through the federal-provincial “Growing Forward” initiative.

“It’s significant new funding,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) assistant Deputy Minister Marc Fortin said in a recent interview.

“We are in the process of putting the final touches on the programs that will support science and innovation for the next four years.

“It is a new incremental investment in science and innovation that wasn’t there before.”

The funding is more than double the $36 million rolled out for science and innovat ion under the previous five year, Agricultural Policy Framework.

The new funding will be al located through “research clusters,” Fortin said. In addition cost-shared federal-provincial programs will supplement the money being invested in the research clusters.

AAFC wants input from farm and industry groups to help decide how best to use the money.

“AAFC’s research branch doesn’t have the monopoly on all the research capacity in the country,” he said. “We have to find ways of recruiting the best brains in the country and bring them together to work on problems or challenges that are important to the sector.” [email protected]