Scholarship winners
The Agricultural Institute of Canada Foundation has announced the 2015 recipients of the Douglas McRorie Memorial Scholarship for graduate students in agricultural business, finance, economics and trade.
René Roy, a student at McGill University in Montreal, is the recipient of the $5,000 PhD level award.
Victoria Zeppa, a student at the University of Alberta, is the recipient of the $3,000 MSc level award.
This scholarship, made available through the support of the RBC Foundation, was established by the AICF in 1990 to honour past-president and agri-finance innovator Douglas McRorie. McRorie served as vice-president of agriculture for the Royal Bank of Canada and was a well-known agricultural leader in Canada.
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These award recipients are recognized for their academic achievements, areas of study, leadership and career interests.
Rail car info app
Canada’s railways have launched a new AskRail app, to provide emergency responders with real-time information about a train car’s contents in the event of an emergency.
Through the AskRail app, developed by the Association of American Railroads and its members, including Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, emergency responders across North America will be able to learn the contents of a rail car through a basic search, view railway emergency contact information and reference resources to help with incident response.
To date, more than 1,700 North American emergency responders, the only parties eligible to use the mobile app, have enrolled.
Funding for aquaculture
The aquaculture industry is receiving $2.5 million in federal funding to increase the domestic and international market share for Canadian aquaculture products.
The money will go to the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance over two years for market research, attending trade shows and missions in the United States, Asia and Europe.
The goal is to raise awareness of Canadian farmed seafood products and target marketing activities for farmed salmon, mussels, sablefish, sturgeon and oysters.
The aquaculture sector is primarily an export sector in Canada with more than 85 percent of its production sold abroad and valued at $576 million.
Aquaculture represents nearly half of the seafood consumed worldwide.
Money for training
The Growing Forward 2 Business Management Skills Development Program in Alberta is accepting applications. Under the program, farmers, agri-processing industry staff and producer groups will be reimbursed for 75 percent of tuition fees or the cost to hire an instructor for a group skill training course.
Individuals can apply for multiple projects to a maximum of $10,000 per individual for the life of the program. Groups can apply for multiple projects to a maximum of $20,000 per application and a maximum of $40,000 for the life of the program.
The following groups are eligible to apply for funding:
- Producers in Alberta who have an established primary business in the production of crops or livestock.
- Agri-food processors with an established business in Alberta, including owners and senior managers.
- New entrants into Alberta’s agriculture and agri-food industry who will have a primary business in production of crops or livestock, or a processing business.
- Senior managers, executive directors or directors on a board that represents an industry organization, producer group or processor.
- Groups of producers or agri-food industry associations seeking training for their organization or board members.
For more information, contact: Stephanie Kosinski at 780-980-4888 or stephanie.kosinski@gov.ab.ca.
Loan guarantee enhancements
Borrowing limits under the Manitoba Livestock Associations Loan Guarantee program have increased to ensure producers can access credit with favourable terms.
The borrowing limit for the program has increased to up to $8 million from $5 million for associations and up to $500,000 from $300,000 for individual association members.
For more information, visit www.masc.mb.ca
