The provincial and federal governments have announced a total of $7.5 million in funding for livestock and forage-related research this year, provided through Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund (ADF).
This year’s funding contribution includes a total of over $4.1 million towards 24 research projects and $3.5 million in operational funding for the Prairie Swine Centre and the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan.
“Despite challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, our farmers continue to make sure Canadians and people around the world have access to our high-quality food,” said federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau, in a press release. “The projects announced today will help to advance important research so our farmers can find even more sustainable and efficient ways to produce this food and continue to grow the sector.”
The research funding will help support the province’s objectives to increase livestock cash receipts to $3 billion and to increase value-added revenue to $10 billion by 2030.
In addition to the government contribution, the ADF will also be collecting nearly $324,000 in support from outside project co-funders, including Alberta Milk, new partner Saskatchewan Alfalfa Seed Producers Development Commission, Saskatchewan Cattleman’s Association, Saskatchewan Forage Seed Producers Development Commission and SaskMilk.
The University of Saskatchewan is receiving the largest portion of the new funding, a total of $2.4 million for 18 projects.
Approved U of S projects include research on bovine respiratory disease to inform vaccine development, treatment for disease-induced hypothyroidism in pigs, and development of a salt-tolerant alfalfa cultivar for western Canada.
U of S facilities will also receive a large portion of the ADF funds. The Prairie Swine Centre will receive $1.9 million in operational funding, while VIDO will receive $1.5 million.
The University of Regina will be getting $279,125 to support Kerry Finlay’s research on identifying regional controls of sulfate concentrations in agricultural ponds and how to remove sulfate for improved cattle health.
Projects from the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Global Institute for Food Security, Prairie Diagnostic Services, the Saskatchewan Beekeeping Development Commission and the Saskatchewan Bison Commission will also be granted funds.
Funds are distributed through the ADF on a competitive basis, to projects that will create growth opportunities and enhance the competitiveness in the industry.
“Through the ADF, producers benefit from research into new forage varieties, improved livestock feeding systems and management of animal diseases that drive industry growth,” said provincial agriculture minister David Marit, in a press release. “This year’s projects will expand the growth potential of the industry by exploring topics such as water quality, cost of production, diagnostics supports, animal health, forage production, quality and breeding.”
The ADF funding announcement follows a prior announcement on Jan. 12 from the provincial and federal governments, sharing that the ADF will receive nearly $10 million in joint funding for agriculture research projects.
