Cuts to Alberta Agriculture were made official last week with the
closure of offices at Drayton Valley, Coronation, Morinville and Lac la
Biche.
The office closures were accompanied by the loss of 145 jobs and a
shift to emphasize industry development.
Eighteen hub offices in rural and urban Alberta will now provide staff
in these areas. They include Airdrie, Barrhead, Brooks, Camrose,
Edmonton, Fairview, Grande Prairie, Leduc, Lacombe, Lethbridge,
Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Olds, Oliver, Stettler, Stony Plain, St. Paul
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and Vermilion.
These 18 will support smaller offices at 16 other locations, which will
house one or two specialists. They include Athabasca, Beaverlodge,
Cardston, Evansburg, Foremost, Fort Vermilion, High River, High
Prairie, Manning, Oyen, Rocky Mountain House, Taber, Spirit River,
Vegreville, Westlock and Westaskiwin.
Fewer agricultural offices in Alberta mean a loss of service for the
small family farm, said Maxean Brigley of the Alberta Women’s
Institutes.
“Once again, it seems to hit the small, independent producer more than
the larger one,” the AWI president said. “Is that where we’re moving,
to pinching the small family farm out?”
Brigley noted a trend toward support for farmers coming from commodity
and producer groups. “It’s another signal that we have to find support
in other areas; we’re not getting it from government sources,” said
Brigley.
Brian Rhiness, assistant deputy minister in Alberta Agriculture’s
industry development sector, said the changes are driven by the
government’s goal to increase activity in agribusiness, value-added and
processing sectors.
General information, displays and application forms will be provided at
a number of other sites. A website and toll-free information lines
(866-882-7677) are also available.
Livestock and crop specialists will continue to consult with farmers on
their land as before, said Rhiness.
