CANUC, the Canadian Agricultural New Uses Council, will hold a one-day workshop at the Charlottetown Hotel, Friday, November 13, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. The workshop, entitled "Rural Development Through Value-Adding," will focus on industrial uses of agricultural and other bio-resources. All members of the public are welcome.
Target audience includes primary resource persons in government, industry, and academia, as well as farmers, fishers, and foresters interested in diversifying their markets to include non-food, non-feed products and services. Local and national speakers will present on a variety of new use topics, including potential uses of potato, hemp, food processing byproducts, and nutraceuticals.
Premier Pat Binns will address participants during the opening of the workshop.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Eric Hammill said the work of the Council complements the province's efforts to add value to its products and diversify production. "The future growth and development of our province and the health of rural communities rests on identifying new product and new market opportunities," said Mr. Hammill. "The identification and commercialization of new uses for our products will help us move away from the sale of commodities to value-added products with higher returns."
CANUC is a non-profit national organization, created in 1997 to promote industrial and new uses of our primary resources, including waste utilization, nutraceuticals, and fibre crops. Its executive director, Pamela Forward, has chosen Prince Edward Island as the site for this year's workshop. "We have focussed our efforts up to now on such topics as biodiesel from canola, ethanol fermented from farm waste, and fibre crops such as hemp and wheat straw for construction materials," explains Forward. "So, this year we want to explore the potential of the Atlantic region, in such areas as marine byproducts, nutraceutical crops, and other resource topics pertinent to the region."
Forward, along with the Board of Directors of CANUC, will also hold its annual general meeting in Charlottetown on Saturday, following the open workshop. They hope that interest will be generated in industrial uses of regional resources, both at the grass-roots level, as well as in all levels of government.
The Prince Edward Island ADAPT Council has provided funding assistance for the workshop, through Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada. Assistance in coordinating the conference has also come from the Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture & Forestry, the Food Technology Centre, Contact Canada, and Abiogen Environmental Services, a local agri-food consulting company.
For further information, or to preregister for the workshop and tabletop display space, contact Paul Stewart at (902) 566-4078, or by email: abiogen@isn.net.