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AG Notes

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Published: October 5, 2023

Food documentaries planned in Manitoba

Manitoba Ag Days and the TV show Great Tastes of Manitoba are joining forces to bring stories of agricultural innovation and accomplishment to audiences across Canada.

As a way to mark its 35th anniversary, the cooking show will work with the farm show to create a series of documentaries about the people who work in Manitoba’s agricultural and agri-food sector.

Produced on the Prairies will premiere at the 2024 Manitoba Ag Days event and then run on CTV Winnipeg and the Rural Channel in the fall.

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The documentaries will provide a behind-the-scenes look at an industry that creates one in 20 jobs in Manitoba.

Great Tastes of Manitoba is a farm-to-table cooking series hosted by Winnipeg media personality Dez Daniels, who is joined in every episode by a local food expert who shares recipes made with ingredients produced by Manitoba’s farmers.

The series began its broadcast run in 1991 and is produced by Frank Digital with funding from the federal government and Manitoba Agriculture through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership and Manitoba’s farmers and ranchers through their industry associations.

SPCA launches annual lottery fundraiser

The Alberta SPCA has launched its Christmas Cash Lottery fundraiser.

Tickets cost $25 for one, $60 for three and $100 for six. There are $90,000 in prizes, including the $25,000 grand prize and two early bird prizes of $10,000 each.

Tickets for the 50/50 raffle are also available.

Alberta SPCA peace officers enforce the Animal Protection Act in all areas of Alberta outside Edmonton and Calgary. The number of investigations remains high and are growing more complex with many files involving dozens of animals and multiple species.

Strong food, beverage sales reported

Sales for Canada’s food and beverage sector are forecast to surpass $164 billion this year, according to Farm Credit Canada.

The forecast exceeds initial projections by 3.2 percent.

Both food and beverage manufacturers saw a strong increase in nominal sales in the first half of 2023, with an increase of 8.4 percent for food manufacturing and 7.3 percent for beverage manufacturing.

Grain and oilseed milling and bakery and tortilla products led in growth with increases of more than 15 percent year over year.

However, FCC said the growth rate in the sector is more modest when accounting for inflation.

It said a decline in consumer spending caused by inflation is putting pressure on food and beverage margins, which have been compressed since 2019. For the beverage industry, gross margins are nearly 50 pe cent lower. In the food sector, margins are on average 11 percent below the pre-pandemic level.

Meanwhile, manufacturers continue to face labour shortages and strong wage growth.

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