REGINA – The federal government last weekend announced $22 million in new agriculture funding, much of it aimed at environmental projects.
The largest chunk is a $10 million, two-year commitment to the national soil and water conservation program. The prairie portion will be distributed through the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration.
The funding is part of the government attempt to replace the popular “Green Plan” money which expired earlier this year.
But agriculture minister Ralph Goodale said in a May 18 interview that it is not an election inspired funding announcement.
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“This is from the adaptation fund that is in the budget,” he said. “This has been in the works for some time. This is simply when it finally made it through the hoops.”
In fact, the department had been geared up to announce the money during the week before the election was called but the event was cancelled at the last moment because all the approvals hadn’t been obtained.
In addition to the conservation project funding, the package includes $5 million to help develop on-farm applications of the hazard analysis critical control point program for food safety, $4 million for research into new Ontario crops and value-added products, and some money for research into non-food uses of agriculture products.
Another $.5 million is earmarked for the Canadian Meat Council’s red meat development project.
