Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay, alongside Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit, announced $6.8 million in funding for livestock and forage research activities.
The investment is provided through the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), supporting 30 new research projects for 2024.
This year’s funding represents an almost 14 percent increase compared to the previous year.
“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.”
The 2024 research projects, selected through a competitive annual process, cover various crucial topics. Among them are developing a rapid and sensitive pathogen surveillance method for Bovine Respiratory Disease in cattle, creating new red clover cultivars tailored for Western Canada, and African Swine Fever preparedness.
The latter involves evaluating manure management and treatment strategies and understanding pathogen survival in mortality management.
“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 for sustainably feeding the world while meeting our economic goals for the end of this decade and beyond.”
In addition to the federal-provincial ADF funding, five industry co-funders have contributed $478,597 for eight livestock and forage projects.
The industry partners include the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission, Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, and Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission.
