EDMONTON – Like an old-fashioned salesman, Alberta’s agriculture minister pulls lotions and potions from his briefcase.
Ed Stelmach has bits of board made from hemp, hand lotion from rhea oil, dog shampoo and rubber gloves lined with oat powder to illustrate the wide range of Alberta products he hopes will soon become household names.
Soon he’ll have to build a wooden box to carry all his wares as he criss-crosses the province this summer promoting value-added products.
Selling Alberta’s goods comes naturally to the former Fuller Brush salesman.
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In Grade 10, Stelmach and a buddy went door to door selling Fuller Brush products for a couple years around Andrew, about 80 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
“We did pretty good. Those ladies couldn’t run away from us.”
Alberta’s new minister of agriculture believes adding value, the industry buzzword for processing raw products grown here into consumer goods before they are shipped out, will be the key to agriculture’s future in the province.
“That’s where we feel we have to concentrate on,” said Stelmach.
No longer will the government be involved in ad hoc programs propping up commodity prices. Instead, the province intends to direct money to research and development.
“Our goals as a department are to increase diversification of products in the province,” he said.
“Only research will open up windows for us,” he said hoping the new research emphasis will attract top-notch scientists.
While selling seems to be his natural calling, improving the transportation system has become his “pet project.”
Because agriculture relies heavily on transportation to get grain to port or cattle to market, Stelmach wants a penalty system implemented for transportation companies who don’t meet deadlines.
“There is no reason why farmers should be shouldering the burden of the mismanagement of transportation.”
