Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz sprinkled taxpayers’ money around March 10 when he spoke at two national agricultural conventions within an hour and announced close to $9 million in funding.
The cattle industry was the biggest winner.
At the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting, the minister announced $8.1 million in funding for information and research projects.
An hour earlier, he used a speech to the Canadian Horticultural Council to announce a $743,000 grant to help the Canadian potato industry develop international markets and $55,000 to study the feasibility and cost of improving potato farm record keeping using GPS data.
Funding to the cattle industry includes:
• $5.3 million to help farm, feedlots and packing plants update information technology to help information flow between the levels of the industry. The money comes from the Agricultural Flexibility fund.
• $2.5 million for research on how to increase profitability through production cost reductions, feed efficiency increases and improved animal health.
• $364,000 to improve the on-farm food safety system on cattle farms.
CCA president Travis Toews said the government money will help make cattle producers more efficient and profitable.
When introducing the minister, the northern Alberta producer had described Ritz as a friend of the industry.
“He is a farmer himself,” said Toews. “You don’t have to visit long with him to see he understands all the details of agriculture in this country.”
CHC president Andy Vermeulen offered a similarly positive introduction after noting that Ritz has attended an industry discussion after an announcement near his farm in Atlantic Canada.
“He has some good ideas,” said the CHC president. “Trust me.”
