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By Erika Rolling

Feds and province launch new Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership

Mar 28, 2023 | 1:14 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A new $508 million partnership between the federal and provincial governments has been announced.

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) will have funding over the next five years to support the needs of Alberta’s agriculture sector through grants.

Compared to the old program it is replacing, the governments say it is an increase of $500 million in cost-sharing across the country.

In total, the Sustainable CAP is a five-year, $3.5-billion investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to support Canada’s agri-food and agri-products sectors. It has a total of $1 billion in federal programs and activities, as well as a $2.5-billion commitment through cost-sharing of 60 per cent federally and 40 per cent provincially/territorially for programs that are designed and delivered by provinces and territories.

The aim of the partnership is to boost job growth and add value to the agricultural and agri-food processing industries by attracting new investment, bringing in value-added processing competition, and expanding irrigation capacity for crop production to rise.

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Alberta Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Nate Horner said in a news release, “The new Sustainable CAP provides flexibility to deliver programs that will help producers grow their business and improve productivity while addressing the unique challenges of farming in Alberta. Alberta’s producers are among the best in the world when it comes to sustainable practices, and we will continue to support their efforts to feed the world while protecting the environment for generations to come.”

Protecting plant and animal welfare and health programming will stay in place with Sustainable CAP.

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Marie Claude-Bibeau said, “The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership is an ambitious way forward while we collaborate to ensure economic, environmental and social success for the sector. This historic investment will help producers and processors in Alberta to innovate, to grow, to prosper and to be competitive.”

Funding under the Sustainable CAP will go to projects in five priority areas:

• Building sector capacity, growth, and competitiveness
• Climate change and environmental protection
• Science, research, and innovation
• Market development and trade
• Resiliency and public trust

The Sustainable CAP comes into effect on April 1, 2023, and funding announcements are expected to begin on April 3 for seven programs.

An eighth program, the Resiliency and Public Trust Program is expected to launch in Fall 2023 and applications will be for “projects that focus on assurance, food sustainability, risk management, youth ag education, mental health or industry governance,” according to an information page on the province’s website.

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