Saskatchewan food processors are getting financial help from taxpayers.
The federal and provincial governments announced last week they will spend $13.4 million to help the province’s food companies become more competitive.
The money will be used to set up the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre, which will provide what provincial agriculture minister Eric Upshall called “one-stop shopping” for food companies trying to get established in national and international markets.
“It will become the focal point for co-ordination and delivery of existing new technical, business, educational and human resource services to the food industry,” he told a press conference Nov. 24.
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Here’s how the money will be spent:
- $8.5 million to provide long-term funding for the centre, to be located at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
- $2.7 million will go toward a human resources development program designed to help small and medium-sized companies deal with financial, management and marketing issues.
- $2 million will be spent to provide scientific and technical services in areas like quality assurance and regulatory issues.
- $200,000 will be spent on making food processors aware of the services available from the new food industry centre.
The money is coming out of a $91 million Agri-Food Innovation Fund, which is funded two-thirds by the federal government and one-third by the province. It was set up in 1996 to promote and support primary production and value-added processing.
David Irvine, president of the Saskatchewan Food Processors Association, said while government is providing the money, the centre will be designed and directed by industry.
He said food companies have to break into international markets in order to survive and prosper and the centre will help them do so.
