Support programs | Consumer trends boost demand for on-farm food safety training
Manitoba farmers will continue to be able to apply for on-farm food safety support, but a recent federal-provincial announcement doesn’t appear to expand the reach of the programs.
“I don’t see anything outstanding that’s really a big, substantial change between this new suite of programs compared to the old ones,” Keystone Agricultural Producers general manager James Battershill said a day after a federal-provincial announcement.
“I expect they’ll be fairly well picked up by producers.”
The growth of the farmer-to-consumer market, in which farmers directly supply urban consumers with products rather than using traditional commercial channels, has increased the demand for on-farm food safety support and training.
Read Also
Spider mites big soybean problem this season
Spider mite issues have been geographically limited but significant where they occur, said John Gavloski, an entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture.
It has also increased longstanding demands for food safety and development support for farmers hoping to work through the traditional system.
Previous farm safety net programs have included funding to help farmers develop, produce and market food products they make on their farms. Funding was made available for this in the first version of the Growing Forward farm programs.
Battershill said that support appears to continue with the Oct. 9 federal-provincial announcement of funding through the new Growing Forward agreement.
“Food safety is a priority for our government,” Manitoba MP James Bezan said in a news release.
“These initiatives will provide farmers and processors with the resources they need to continue producing high quality food products.”
Manitoba agriculture minister Ron Kostyshyn, whose department was recently embroiled in a controversy over the seizure and destruction of allegedly improperly produced prosciutto, said the program is designed to preserve safety and confidence in the system.
“The process of food safety begins on farms, then moves to include processors, the transportation industry and retailers and ends on the consumer’s plate,” Kostyshyn said in the news release.
“Meeting high food safety standards will benefit the agri-food industry by maintaining consumer confidence, increasing market access, enhancing product quality and consistency and reducing waste in a world where food is a valuable commodity.”
Battershill said the details of the new version of the program aren’t fully clear yet, but farmers in Manitoba will look carefully to see if money is shifting away from on-farm food products to the off-farm food producers.
“We just don’t want programs that support (off-farm food development) to come at the expense of farmer programs,” said Battershill.
Ontario farmers have become upset at signs that money they thought was going to support farmers who developed food products was instead going to commercial and industrial producers.
“The concern is, are larger businesses being able to access this money that should be going to farmers,” said Battershill.
