Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Agriculture reached an important milestone in the announcement of the completion of a $1.3 billion multilateral framework agreement during meetings this week in Quebec City.
The agreement, known as Growing Forward, is supported by a commitment for five years of funding for non-business risk management (non-BRM) programs. The cost sharing is on a 60/40 basis between the federal government and the provincial and territorial governments.
The agreement which had input from 3,000 farmers, stakeholders and Canadians represents a funding increase of $250 million over the existing Agricultural Policy Framework (APF). Prince Edward Island’s share of the Federal funding will be $14,743,942 over the course of the five-year agreement.
The agreement paves the way for the development of new programs to assist PEI’s agricultural community and its quickly changing industry.
Agriculture Minister Neil LeClair said he was pleased to see the new agreement has aspects that allow the flexibility to design programs that will better meet the Island’s agricultural needs.
“Growing Forward will build on successful existing programs and create new programs where they are needed,” said the minister.
“This agreement is something that farmers from across the country had a hand in developing and is a real step forward to address changes in not only Canada’s agriculture industry but changes happening around the world,” LeClair added.
Growing Forward will increase the contribution to both these areas by promoting environmentally responsible agriculture.
The agreement will also see the development of:
1. Adaptable programs that provide flexibility for provinces to determine priorities and address regional differences while maintaining national objectives through targeted programming.
2. Environmental and food safety programs for supporting sustainable agriculture practices through environmental farm planning and the development, recognition and implementation of food safety systems.
3. Innovation investments which promote agri-based innovation investment opportunities.
4. Measures to proactively manage risk through the development of national biosecurity systems and national traceability systems.
“With this agreement in place, government will be collaborating with the agricultural industry in order to launch new programs as soon as possible,” LeClair commented.