Agriculture Canada’s funding for key industry policies cannot be estimated until Ottawa and the provinces agree on the next long-term agriculture policy, says the department.
In a Plans and Priorities report tabled in Parliament last week, the department projected an annual eight percent increase in business risk management spending over the next three years because those programs are legislated to respond to demand.
However, the departmental plan shows sharp cuts in non-BRM programs pending an expected April 1, 2013, launch of the next five-year agricultural policy framework.
Read Also
Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research
Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
Figures presented to MPs show a 17 percent cut in departmental spending next year, from more than $3 billion this year to less than $2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, the department is telling Parliament that staff levels will remain at 6,117 over the next three years, despite deep civil service cuts planned to reduce the deficit.
The department said sharp cuts projected to environmental, science and competitiveness programs may not happen, depending on negotiations between federal and provincial ministers in September leading to the next five-year agricultural program.
“Due to the sunsetting in 2012-13 of the non-BRM Growing Forward program, many program activities show a reduction in planned spending,” said the departmental report.
“The development of the successor Growing Forward policy framework is currently underway and once in effect, will increase planned spending.”
In its outline of objectives for the agriculture sector, the department stressed trade negotiations and efforts to improve competitiveness through regulatory reform and innovation.
The department is “leading and participating in applied scientific discovery, research and knowledge transfer to support the development of innovative products and processes which will improve the competitiveness and profitability of the sector,” said the Agriculture Canada report.
The plan also includes regulatory and service changes that mean “embracing the transformation and renewal of departmental activities to deliver policies and programs efficiently and effectively.”
It said employees will be “engaged in the excellence agenda.”
With pink slips flowing freely in the federal government in the wake of government cuts, unions representing Agriculture Canada employees argue that is another way of describing job cuts.
