By Chris Brown

Growing ag

Province will expand push to promote agriculture exports, attract investment

Sep 30, 2020 | 2:58 PM

The Government of Alberta is expanding its Agriculture Promotion Network around the world.

The recently created Invest Alberta will work with network offices worldwide and will add representatives from Alberta Agriculture to those offices to expand market access for Alberta agricultural products, said Premier Jason Kenney on Wednesday.

“Very excited to see this happening in the United States, the European Union, in Mexico and in Singapore,” he said. “It will also complement Alberta Ag international exposure in the Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and New Dehli offices.”

The province is targeting an 8.5 per cent increase per year for value-added agricultural exports and a 7.5 per cent increase for the primary agricultural sector. Kenney said if met the targets will increase agri-food exports to $16.6 billion by 2023.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen said 2020 has been a banner year for Alberta agriculture.

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“With all this record crop we need to have a place to sell,” he said.

Dreeshen said focusing on the eight offices listed by the premier is key to promoting Alberta agriculture products and attract investment

On Tuesday, the province announced it is working to build value-added agriculture capacity and bolster economic activity, and will target private investment totalling $1.4 billion to do so.

The province says the initiative will “create more than 2,000 jobs and get Albertans back to work in emerging sectors like hemp, agri-technology and value-added processing of grain, oilseed, plant protein and meat.”

Olds College will partner with THRIVE’s Canada accelerator and startup program, which focuses on technology-driven solutions to support agriculture and food sectors. The college received $200,000 from the Canadian Agriculture Partnership (CAP) through the provincial agriculture and forestry ministry.

The provincial government has also invested $25 million to expand the Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator in Leduc and $700,000 in fibre and plant based protein processing facilities in Vegreville.