Manitoba’s general farm policy organization says the latest funding announcement under the Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership is essential for the sector to remain competitive.
On May 29, the governments of Canada and Manitoba said they will provide up to $65 million in grants to support the development of agricultural knowledge and skills and improve competitiveness and sustainability in Manitoba’s agriculture and agri-food sectors.
“The announcement from both levels of government for increased funding for research and innovation in agriculture is welcomed by Manitoba producers and our sector as a whole,” said Jill Verwey, president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers.
Read Also
Canadian Pork Council rejoins Canadian Federation of Agriculture
Canada’s pig producers will once again have a seat at the table at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, citing need for a united agricultural trade front.
She said Canada risks falling behind other nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a global policy making group of several dozen market-based democracies. This funding announcement should help bridge that gap.
“Canada lags behind in terms of capital spent on research and development as a total of its GDP, and the portion of research and innovation compared to our national GDP has been in steady decline since 2001,” said Verwey.
Recent U.S. legislation has jump-started research and innovation in that country and threatens to put Canada at an economic disadvantage if more funding is not allocated, she added.
“This announcement is great news and will play an important role in supporting growth and competitiveness for producers.”
The announcement includes two categories: basic and applied research and capacity building. Basic and applied research includes discovery projects that seek solutions for specific problems. Capacity building includes only the purchase of research equipment ($10,000 or greater) and equipment-specific training.
Funded projects will fall into four focus areas: resource management, grain innovation and crop production, livestock production and value-added processing.
Producers, agri-processors, industry, academic institutions and research bodies, communities and Indigenous governments are among those eligible under the program.
The call for letters of intent is now open for projects starting in spring 2024. Once letters are reviewed, applicants with eligible projects will be invited to submit a full proposal.
More information can be found at gov.mb.ca/scap/scienceresearch/research.html.
