Agriculture Canada has an-nounced a $12 million, five-year investment in dairy research that will be supplemented by a $6 million investment from Dairy Farmers of Canada.
MP Pierre Lemieux, parliamentary secretary to agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, announced the federal funding Sept. 16 in eastern Ontario.
The government announcement said the money will fund projects in a “research cluster” led by DFC that will bring together public and private scientists to study ways to improve dairy cattle genetics, sustainable milk production, animal productivity and dairy cattle health and welfare practices.
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Setting research priorities will be led by the industry.
In the announcement, Ritz said the money is aimed at allowing the industry to “conduct innovative research that will keep them competitive for years to come.”
The money comes from the Agri-Innovation fund within the five-year Growing Forward 2 agriculture policy framework.
The money will start to flow only after government and industry sign “contribution and collaboration agreements,” said the announcement.
DFC president Wally Smith said industry research priorities are “focused on driving innovation and increased productivity on the farm while contributing to the health and well-being of Canadians.”
Research investments over the past three decades have dramatically increased the milk production per cow.
It has led to increased exports of Canadian dairy genetics, worth more than $110 million in exports last year to countries in the Pacific Rim, the Middle East and South America.
