Florenceville, New Brunswick, June 30 , 2005 – The New Brunswick Potato Museum is benefiting from the Farm Credit Canada (FCC) AgriSpirit Fund with a donation of $5,000.

Through the FCC AgriSpirit Fund, the New Brunswick Potato Museum will be acquiring an exhibit called "From Plantlet to Plate." This exhibit follows the development of a new variety of potatoes illustrating the testing, growing, harvesting, processing and packaging of the potato before it arrives on the consumer’s plate. 

“We’re proud to give even more back to rural Canada and to the community of Florenceville where our customers and employees live and work,” says FCC District Manager René Belanger. “The enthusiasm of Canadians is evident in the projects that are being created in our rural communities. It’s that spirit and passion that makes New Brunswick a great place to live.”

The New Brunswick Potato Museum, which opened in the fall of 2004, is called Potato World.  It tells the story of the potato, its history, production, and place in commerce of the St.John River Valley by providing interactive exhibits, graphic story boards and audio-visual presentations.

From the 489 applications received this past winter, FCC selected 38 projects from across Canada.

In November 2004, FCC announced the AgriSpirit Fund. This Fund awarded $400,000 towards capital projects for rural communities with populations under 100,000. These projects will receive between $5,000 to $25,000 to create or enhance facilities in their community. A significant amount of time and consideration went into each evaluation including how the project would make a difference in the community.

The FCC AgriSpirit Fund will continue for a second year. Details regarding the eligibility criteria and application process will be posted this fall through the FCC website at www.fcc-fac.ca.

Operating out of 100 offices located primarily in rural Canada, FCC employees are passionate about the business of agriculture. FCC's healthy portfolio of more than $11 billion and 12 consecutive years of portfolio growth are a reflection of our customers' success.

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For more information, please contact:

Rick O’Regan
Farm Credit Canada
Account Manager
(506) 851-7683

Nadine Hakim (Bilingual)
Farm Credit Canada
Corporate Communications
(306) 780-8572