The federal government is investing $6 million in the sheep and goat industry, the bulk of it to fund a campaign to eliminate sheep scrapie.
At a Feb. 6 announcement on a Toronto area sheep farm, federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said up to $4.5 million will be spent from the Agriculture Canada AgriFlexibility fund to study the prevalence of the neurological disease in Canadian sheep and then establish a plan to eradicate it.
The presence of scrapie has shut foreign borders to Canadian sheep products.
“Being recognized as scrapie-free will ensure that Canada’s sheep industry will remain competitive in all international markets,” Ritz said at the announcement.
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Growth of the $124 million sheep sector has been stifled by a lack of access to export markets.
“We are going to keep knocking on international doors for our Canadian sheep and goat industry because we know today’s buyers are demanding more and we know this industry can and will deliver,” Ritz said as he stood on the farm of Andrew Gordanier, vice-president of the Canadian Sheep Federation.
Ritz also announced that close to $1.6 million will be spent on three projects to help the sheep and goat sectors improve on-farm safety and establish traceability systems.
- $491,000 will be spent to educate sheep and goat producers about programs to allow identification and traceability of animals in the system, as well as strengthen a sheep identification system.
- $733,000 will help fund a pilot project to test radio frequency Identification technology on sheep farms.
- $354,000 will help complete the federation’s On-Farm Food Safety Management System. Ritz said completion of the plan could clear the way for the government to recognize a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points system for the sheep industry.
