By Leah Murray

Funding announced for innovation and growth in the ag sector

Mar 26, 2018 | 4:52 PM

CALGARY – The federal government announced a new $3 billion partnership that will benefit farmers and ranchers in Western Canada and the territories.

The announcement was made Monday in Calgary. For Alberta, it will mean $406 million over the next five years.

The Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year federal-provincial-territorial agreement that focuses on increasing trade, expanding markets and supporting innovative and sustainable growth in the sector.

CAP will replace the ‘Growing Forward 2’ program and is designed to strengthen the agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector.

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The government said the CAP program is the result of several round-table meetings with Alberta farmers, ranchers and representatives from the diverse agri-food and agri-processing sectors over the last few months.

Irrigation, farm water and stewardship programming is launching in early April. The province said additional programs supporting Alberta’s agricultural sector will be launched in the coming weeks.

“No matter what sector of the agriculture you’re in, we want to improve lets say seeds that use less water, precision agriculture, use fertilizer more carefully, make sure we take care of the environment,” said Lawrence MacAulay, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “That’s some of the things, and a lot more, that’s involved in the CAP program.”

MacAulay said this program will help ensure Canada reaches its goal of $75 billion in agricultural exports by the year 2025.