Feds earmark $87.5M to develop sustainable agriculture projects over next 4 years

An announcement Thursday in eastern Prince Edward Islandconfirmed that $87.5 million in federal funds will be going toward developing sustainable agriculture projects in the next four years.

The money will be divided among 30 academic institutions across the country, and includes $6.9 million for the UPEI-affiliatedCanadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation in St. Peters Bay.

In total, more than 165 researchers will participate in 16 collaborative research projects.

"This is a very exciting day for me personally, for the centre, my team and obviously the University of Prince Edward Island," said Aitazaz Farooque, professor and associate dean at the centre.

"For this, I think we will be recruiting a lot of new graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, undergrads to build the capacity and develop technologies and BMP's [best-management practices] for the local industry, regional industry and national industry," he said.

The money comes in the form of a grant from both the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada.

Many of the projects are focused on things like developing best-management practices to improve soil health, lowering greenhouse gas emissionsand improving carbon sequestering methods.

"In the face of climate change food security is important," Farooque said. "Prince Edward Island, if we don't have rain for two or three months, we don't have any control over [that]. So it's a matter of preparedness."

Staying competitive

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Lawrence MacAulay was on hand Thursday to make the announcement in his home ridingofCardigan.

MacAulay said the projects will help Canada stay at the forefront of research in this area.

"We're going to make sure that we're on the cutting edge and we're going to be competitive worldwide in the agricultural sector," he said.

MacAulay said it's important that Canadian farms remain profitable as well as sustainable.

"All I want to do is make sure that it creates more opportunity for the agricultural sector," he said. "We export just under $100 billion of agriculture and agri-food products. The demand for agriculture and agri-food products and protein around the world is increasing all the time.

"So either we can provide it, or somebody else will."

Working with farmers

Farooque said a large portion of the funds the climate centre will receive will go to paying stipends for researchers working on the project, as well as for materials and equipment.

Other funds will be spent on translating those results for the people who need it most, he said,"hosting annual and meetings with the farming community here at the centre, where we will showcase best management practices and the technologies we have developed, so that we are effectively translating and communicating those results back to the end users and they can implement those technologies."

Farooque grew up on a farm, and said his own father is still a farmer, so that's why getting feedback from farmers is so important to his work.

"Sometimes, yes, it is important to do fundamental research and pinpoint the realities and understand the mechanisms and whatnot," he said. "But for the practical applications, I think it has to be big."

So while some of the research will involve lab work and clinical trials, Farooquesaid there will also be on-farm trials while the technology is being developed.

"At the end of the day, you want to make an impact, you want to make sure that it is working, it is helping, it is profitable, it is sustainable."