He stood at the foot of the amphitheatre, packed full with a well-heeled, politically connected crowd, and laid it out straight.
If nutraceuticals are to make a difference to the bottom line of Manitoba farmers, said Don Dewar, researchers have to find a product unique to the province with unlimited worldwide demand.
Adding value to agricultural products by finding specific health benefits is “great for the economy, but we need to have a higher value for the producer,” said Dewar, of Keystone Agricultural Producers, Manitoba’s general farm organization.
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Dewar was the last to speak in a long lineup of politicians and researchers at one of the largest, slickest farm-related news conferences held here in the past four years.
Premier Gary Filmon announced the creation of a new National Centre for Agri-Food Research in Medicine, a set of laboratories at the research centre of the St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg.
It was Filmon’s third agricultural appearance in a week. He is expected to call an election this spring.
The federal and provincial governments will each put in $1.5 million for the nutraceutical research. The St. Boniface General Hospital will match the contribution with $3 million.
The research centre is thought to be the first to link agriculture with medical research, said Grant Pierce, a cardiovascular researcher at the hospital and the University of Manitoba. Researchers will determine whether compounds in farm products have health benefits and document how to treat and prevent diseases using food.
Pierce said the prime limiting factor for farmers producing nutraceutical crops is the lack of scientific evidence substantiating health benefits.
Filmon said the market for such goods is close to $50 billion in the United States, $22 billion in Japan and $11 billion in Germany.
But a new 500-page study commissioned by the provincial government concludes farmers will glean big profits from the new industry only if they think and work together in new ways.
The study, done by Brian Kelly, Randy Baldwin and David Shambrock, identifies where Manitoba could find competitive advantages in the nutraceutical industry.
In an interview, Kelly said the research and marketing required to sell nutraceuticals are expensive and risky.
To spread costs and make profits, farmers would have to band together in a new-generation co-op and find many niche uses for components of their produce.
If large agricultural companies do the legwork and find the markets, farmers will be left producing commodities at less than premium prices, said Kelly.
