Merv Wiseman is giving the federal budget a thumbs-up for it's initiatives on agriculture.
In part, this is because of a new, five-year federal provincial cost-sharing agreement which will take effect in April of this year and will contain elements of the stimulus package.
"We have a whole new framework that's coming out to spend on some very key areas around food safety, food security," said Wiseman, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture. "The broad strokes of the program, the basic framework for us as agriculture across the province and across the country is very positive."
Especially tantalizing for Newfoundland and Labrador is $500 million nationally in new spending for agriculture flexibility research, to "adapt to pressures and improve it's competitiveness."
That money will go to specific initiatives, specific to provinces or regions.
"There are many programs unique to this province or the region that because it didn't fit into a national framework, that it wasn't generic to the rest of the country, that we simply couldn't fund," Wiseman said.
He cited as an example, research into cranberry production in Newfoundland.
jmcleo@thetelegram.com
Budget good for this province, Wiseman says
Farming
Merv Wiseman is giving the federal budget a thumbs-up for it's initiatives on agriculture.
In part, this is because of a new, five-year federal provincial cost-sharing agreement which will take effect in April of this year and will contain elements of the stimulus package.
"We have a whole new framework that's coming out to spend on some very key areas around food safety, food security," said Wiseman, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture. "The broad strokes of the program, the basic framework for us as agriculture across the province and across the country is very positive."
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