The federal government and the Canadian organic sector have announced a combined investment of close to $9 million in research projects to help the industry.
On Sept. 1 in Truro, N.S., federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said Ottawa will use its focused “cluster” research strategy to make $6.5 million available for research projects designed and approved by industry, academic and government officials.
The organic sector raised an additional $2.2 million for the project.
Ritz said the research will be aimed at soil fertility, grain cropping, greenhouse gas mitigation and food processing issues.
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It will “focus Canada’s organic expertise on the research that shows the most promise in delivering a profitable competitive edge to farmers.”
The Organic Federation of Canada will manage investment of the funds and publicly praised Ritz and the government for the commitment.
In 2008, sales of organic products in Canada were worth more than $2 billion and the value grows annually.
“As Canadian consumers look for more organic products, this research will help Canadian farmers to benefit from this opportunity,” Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada founding director Ralph Martin said.
The same day, Ritz won praise from the Canadian Horticultural Council for a $5.1 million commitment to fund science cluster projects for the $6 billion industry, providing $3.6 million to edible product research and $1.5 million to the ornamental sector.
The announcement said the research would investigate industry priorities like field sanitation for blueberry operations and finding ways to increase storage time for apples.
While national farm lobby organizations, including Grain Growers of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, have been campaigning to convince the government to double basic agriculture research over the next decade, Ritz insists the government priority is more focused investment in research that can have a quick turnaround benefit for the industry.
