A total of CAD6.8 million (US$5 million) in funding has been announced by Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit for livestock and forage research activities.
Provided through the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), this investment will support 30 new research projects for 2024. This year’s funding is a nearly 14% increase compared with last year.
This year’s projects, which are awarded funding on an annual competitive basis, focus on topics such as the development of a rapid and sensitive pathogen surveillance method for bovine respiratory disease in cattle, development of new red clover cultivars for Western Canada, and African swine fever preparedness with a focus on evaluating manure management and treatment strategies and understanding pathogen survival in mortality management.
“Investments like these are helping the agriculture sector prepare for the future,” MacAulay said. “These research projects will help our farmers adopt more sustainable practices and new methods to counter the effects of drought, diseases and other environmental challenges they face, so they can stay competitive and protect their bottom line.”
In addition to the federal-provincial ADF funding, a total of CAD478,597 for eight livestock and forage projects was contributed by five industry co-funders:
- Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association
- Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission
- Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission
- Saskatchewan Pulse Growers
- Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission
“We need our livestock producers to stay competitive and profitable, and they do that by staying innovative through new ideas which become best practices,” Marit said. “Investments in agricultural research help Saskatchewan maintain its status as a go-to jurisdiction when it comes to sustainably feeding the world while meeting our economic goals for the end of this decade and beyond.”
