Manitoba has signed its new 5-year agricultural funding agreement with the federal government.
The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) was announced by Manitoba Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson and federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on April 6.
The agreement includes $221 million for strategic agricultural initiatives in the province, a $45 million increase compared to the previous agreement.
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“Manitoba producers and agri-processors are key contributors not only to Manitoba’s economy, but to the entire international agri-food value chain,” said Johnson in a release announcing the agreement. “Our government is committed to supporting this industry through targeted programming while they work to sustainably feed the world, right here at home.”
Nationally, Sustainable CAP includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and $2.5 billion in cost-shared initiatives delivered by the provinces and territories. The total of $3.5 billion is an increase of $500 million over the previous agreement.
“The Sustainable CAP is a commitment by the governments of Canada and Manitoba to continue investing in the agriculture sector’s growth and innovation, ensuring producers, ranchers and processors reach their full potential and have access to new markets for their products,” said Bibeau in the release.
The Manitoba government has launched a suite of programs under the Sustainable CAP framework that invest in sustainable practices throughout the sector.
For example, the new Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program has been developed based on feedback from the industry and supports ecological goods and services by funding on-farm projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Eligible applicants include community pastures, agricultural Crown land forage leaseholders, First Nations and Métis communities and farmers outside of watershed district boundaries. Farmers within watershed districts are eligible for the previously-announced Prairie Watersheds Climate Program, administered by the Manitoba Association of Watersheds.
“I want to thank our industry stakeholders for their input in consultations over the last two years so we could create programs that fit exactly what Manitoba producers need,” said Johnson. “I look forward to future investments that will support Manitoba agricultural operations.”
Sustainable CAP went into effect nationally on April 1 and replaced the previous Canadian Agricultural Partnership that expired on the same day.
