Ottawa and Dairy Farmers of Canada will invest almost $12 million to research the health benefits of dairy products, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz announced Feb. 4.
Ritz also announced almost $1 million to help the dairy industry fund a national database to help it keep track of on-farm food safety audits.
The announcements at the DFC annual policy convention drew enthusiastic applause and praise for the minister from delegates.
“This is something we have wanted for a long time,” said president Jacques Laforge, who called it “a solid investment in the future of our industry.”
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When delegates interrupted Ritz’s speech with applause for the second time, he said it was like being at his own funeral.
Ritz later told reporters that the “research cluster” program is a way to involve the industry, government and researchers in projects that will help innovation. The money comes out of a five-year, $158 million Agri-Innovations program announced last year.
He said the dairy announcement will make research investment more effective.
“In layman’s terms, it’s a compilation of academia, industry, government and other scientific forces all coming together for one result,” he said. “Rather than reinventing the wheel at all these different levels, everybody comes together, puts their best thoughts forward and we get better bang for our buck.”
He said isolated research effort often has meant poor results despite significant spending.
“This way with industry involved, at the end of the day you have what they’re asking for.”
Laforge said much of the research will be aimed at improving the nutritional value of dairy products.
The $995,000 in federal funding to help DFC collect information about the results of on-farm audits at dairy farms based on implementation of the hazard analysis critical control points system is part of the national food safety strategy.
The DFC goal is to have all dairy farms registered and using an on-farm HACCP system by 2012.
