Crop research receives $67 million injection

The federal government, along with commodity groups, have planted some seeds to grow the country’s agriculture industry.

Federal Agriculture Ministerm Lawrence MacAuleym was at the CropSphere conference in Saskatoon Tuesday to announce $39.3 million in new federal money over the next five years towards four science clusters including wheat, barley and soybeans as well as diverse crops like quinoa, hemp and mustard. He said the industry needs the ability to produce more.

“We are going to export $75 billion, worth of agriculture and agri-food products and it takes investment and research to do that,” he said.

Over $28 million will be contributed by industry groups over the next five years. Ag West Bio will administer the diverse crops cluster. Director of corporate initiatives Mike Cey said the overall picture for the seven crops is to double the production value.

“They are combined at about a billion dollars right now so we are looking to double that by 2023 to a $2 billion value,” he said.

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The crop sector was a major contribute to the country’s economy in 2018, representing $25 billion in farm gate receipts and $21 billion in exports.

The Crop Sphere Conference runs all week in Saskatoon.

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