October 2003

Strengthening Canada's Agriculture Sector
New programs for farmers, under the national Agricultural Policy Framework (APF), will be launched over the coming months. The goal is to make Canada the world leader in food safety and quality, environmentally responsible production and innovation, while improving business risk management and fostering renewal. Recent developments emerging from the APF include a new program allowing farmers to cultivate a greener future and new business services to help producers renew their operations. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada continues to serve the needs of Canadian consumers, producers and processors. For more information, follow the links from www.agr.gc.ca.

Seeds of a Greener Future
Farmers can get marginal and environmentally sensitive land out of production. Under the land conversion component of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Greencover Canada program, they can convert questionable crop land to forage, trees and shrubs. Greencover Canada is a five-year, $110-million program to promote sustainable land use and to expand the land base covered by perennial forage and trees. The conversion component targets lands with limited capacity to grow annual crops, or which is susceptible to severe degradation due to erosion, salinization, or loss of organic matter. Eligible land must have been in annual crop production as of July 1, 2002. The program supports the Agricultural Policy Framework by fostering environmentally responsible use of Canada's agricultural land resources. See www.agr.gc.ca/greencover-verdir
Contact: Larry Lenton, 306-780-5153

Advisory Services for Producers
The Government of Canada will provide more than $200 million, over the next five years, for programming under the Renewal element of the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF). The Canadian Farm Business Advisory Services, a cornerstone renewal program, helps producers set and meet goals and increase profits. Producers have access to these services in Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Yukon and soon in Nova Scotia and Manitoba. The services will be available in other provinces and territories as APF implementation agreements are signed. For information on renewal services and programs, consult the Renewal Web site at www.agr.gc.ca/renewal or call 1-866-452-5558.
Contact: Aline MacDougall, 613-715-5569

Figuring the Farm Online
An Internet program, Benchmark for Success, provides information to help Canadian producers make prudent business decisions. The program allows producers to compare their farms to similar operations. Figures are entered into the spreadsheet provided. The results are automatically calculated and presented in a benchmark report. This report can help gauge the relative strengths of their operations. Producers can use it to work with their advisors to identify areas where improvements can be made or where future opportunities may lie. The information is not saved at any point, so there is no possibility of it being seen by anyone else. See the tools at www.agr.gc.ca/compare. See www.agr.gc.ca/renewal for details.
Contact: Marc McCarthy, 613-759-7434

Targeted Information
Expanded services are on the way to meet the many needs of producers. The Canadian Farm Business Management Council (CFBMC) will make useful information available about advances in science and technology, understanding business risk management, and tools and services for beginning farmers. New federal funding of $12.5 million, over the next five years, will help expand these services. The money will also aid in the development of a national directory of training opportunities, and maintain and expand the CFBMC's Web site at www.farmcentre.com. More information about the CFBMC is available on the Web site or by calling 1-888-232-3262.
Contact: Aline MacDougall, 613-715-5569

Saving Soil, Improving Crops
High precipitation, sloping fields and intensive farming present environmental challenges. In British Columbia's Fraser Valley, an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) research team is working to reduce the impacts of agricultural production on soil quality. Following the team's recommendation, winter cover crops - barley, winter wheat, fall rye and annual ryegrass - are sown into perennial row crops such as raspberries and strawberries in mid-September. The practice limits the days bare soil is vulnerable to erosion by rain and melt water. When the cover crop is cultivated in the spring, the soil benefits from added nitrogen and organic matter which hosts beneficial microbes. The increased organic material also combats soil compaction by farm vehicles. The research undertaken by AAFC's Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Agassiz, B.C., helps meet environmental challenges across Canada.
Contact: Laurens van Vliet, 604-796-2221

Apple industry looks for hard count on crunch
Apples are crunchy. Most of us have accepted this and moved on, but people who earn a living from the fruit are different. The apple industry constantly introduces new cultivars with attributes ranging from taste, to hardness. New apples are marketed on the balance between attributes and clear, scientific measures, which together help determine what varieties to promote. Knowing this, a team at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's research centre in Kentville, NS, set out to develop an objective approach to describing apple texture. The researchers trained a sensory panel to test 28 varieties for skin toughness, to mealiness and sponginess. The team also used special magnified photography to visualize the fruit's internal architecture.
Contact: Paula Allan-Wojtas, (902) 679-5566

Commitment To New Export Markets
More than half-a-million dollars in federal funding has been committed for Atlantic Canada's food companies looking to carve out new export markets. The funding from the Canadian Agriculture and Food International (CAFI) Program will help companies assess markets, make contacts and keep current on export issues. The force behind the initiative is the Atlantic Canada Food Export Partnership, a cross-section of the region's food and seafood companies formed to move the industry's collective export interests forward. Based on successful activities at food and beverage shows in Boston and Montreal, the partnership plans educational missions to key trade shows in the U.S., Germany, Mexico and the Caribbean. CAFI, a national initiative under the Agricultural Policy Framework, will provide funding throughout the year on a project-by-project basis matching investment from industry.
Contact: Shelley Manning, 902-426-2137

Seasonally Adjusted Agriculture
Melvin Farms is looking to stretch the advantage of a naturally-long growing season a little further in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. The Valley produce operation is working with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to design a new vegetable storage system using film wrap and controlled-atmosphere storage techniques. The custom-tailored technology could allow fresh cauliflower to be shipped up to eight weeks following harvest. Opening marketing opportunities beyond the usual 18 weeks puts the producer in a better negotiating position with retailers and offers a chance to match the competition from the U.S. Final results should be available shortly after the trials wrap up in December.
Contact: Mark Hodges, 902-679-5328