Creating jobs by investing in Alberta agriculture

Jun 11, 2021

Edmonton, Alberta – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Alberta’s government has streamlined its Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) grant process to make it easier for producers to access grants.

Changes include a simplified grant application process that will allow applicants to receive their money faster, enabling companies to more easily create jobs and inject more money into the province’s economy. Funding for the five-year, $406-million partnership remains unchanged.

This year, Alberta’s CAP funding will focus on investment in agriculture and food processing. Through these changes, the program will encourage innovation and technological advancement on farms and throughout the entire food supply chain.

In 2020-21, the program awarded 989 grants that aim to help farmers and businesses grow and innovate. It is estimated that these grants have led to more than $150 million in investment and the creation of more than 750 jobs in the agriculture and agri-food processing sector.

Alberta’s nine programs will be organized under three themes: Growth and Value-Added, Farm Efficiency and Public Trust.
New programs will start to rollout in summer 2021. Program information will be posted on Alberta’s Canadian Agricultural Partnership website.

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Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.