Agricultural societies play a crucial role in the province’s rural communities. They bring people together, organize and run events and improve the overall quality of life for residents in their communities.
Alberta has more agriculture societies than any other province with 292 organizations. Alberta’s government is helping regional agricultural societies weather increasing costs and plan ahead with a one-time cash injection of more than $7.4 million.
“It’s hard to overstate the impact regional agricultural societies have on rural Alberta. From event organizing to infrastructure upkeep, they energize folks and bring communities together. This funding will ensure our regional agriculture societies are able to keep up their good work and continue to be pillars of their communities.”
RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation
New funding includes $4.03 million in one-time supports distributed among the seven regional ag societies to help them manage cost pressures and allow them to plan for the future, including achieving more sustainable operational models. It also includes a one-time investment of $2.87 million to support business transformation projects and funding set aside for a third-party consultant to help with those efforts.
This is on top of the continued annual total funding of $2.8 million for regional agricultural societies through the Agricultural Societies Grant Program.
In 2024, Alberta’s government hired Deloitte to conduct a sustainability assessment of the societies and provide recommendations to address their financial struggles. Those recommendations helped inform this funding and the next steps.
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