Photo 34761136 © Stephan Pietzko | Dreamstime.com

By rdnewsNOW Staff

Focus On Value Add

NDP announces agri-food incentives and strategy

Jul 12, 2022 | 4:24 PM

Alberta’s official Opposition party says an NDP government will bring billions of dollars in new investment and job creation in agriculture and agri-food to rural Alberta with a new strategy released on July 12.

The strategy is called: Championing Alberta Agriculture and Agri-Food: Increasing Value-Added Processing and Production.

“Raising crops and livestock is foundational to our economy and the food we grow here is exported all over the world,” said NDP Leader Rachel Notley. “In fact, the demand for that food is going to increase by as much as 50 per cent in the next 25 years.

“So if we are prepared, the growth in global food demand represents billions of dollars’ worth of new jobs and new investment landing largely in rural Alberta. That is the opportunity we must seize — thousands of new jobs, billions in new investment in rural Alberta.

“I’m grateful to all the Albertans who shared their vision and expertise with us in the preparation of this proposal. What we heard loud and clear is the Government of Alberta must be a champion for agriculture and the innovation that will help the sector flourish for generations to come. I commit to you that an NDP government will be that champion,” said Notley.

Chad Krahn

Unofficial 2024 By-Election Results

8h ago

Alberta Community Crime Prevention Association

Lacombe farmer speaks at provincial conference about increasing rural crime and mental health strains

14h ago

April 23-May 2, 2024

Red Deer Public Schools set to launch Open House series

14h ago

The party says a broad consultation process through Alberta’s Future identified major roadblocks that are holding back the development of value-add agricultural industries in Alberta, namely a lack of capacity in regulatory agencies that leaves projects waiting for years instead of months for an answer, a lack of access to capital both for industry to build facilities and for their municipal partners to build the infrastructure that serve them, a lack of robust rural broadband internet, and lastly, a lack of political leadership in government to champion the sector.

On June 6, the NDP says agriculture leaders wrote to Minister Nate Horner to express their frustration at watching agri-food and other value-add facilities being built in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and not in Alberta.

The Opposition says an Alberta NDP government will take eight specific actions:

• Create an Alberta Value-Add Incentive Program that provides financial incentives to build or expand an agricultural value-add facility in Alberta. The exact form of the incentive – loan guarantees, grants, or tax credits – would be steered by a task force.
• Create a Local Food Incentive program geared towards smaller projects that serve local needs.
• Bring on more staff to speed up the processing of agricultural and agri-food proposals.
• Provide navigation services to guide entrepreneurs and innovators through the various approvals from all relevant departments.
• Lower the cost of capital borrowing for municipalities, bringing it back down to the rate the province receives and ensuring that provincial infrastructure priorities align with local plans.
• Make sure that AgTech is embedded in Alberta’s tech strategy, as described in Growing Tech, Creating Jobs.
• Connect rural Alberta to reliable, affordable, broadband Internet as the NDP described in the Alberta’s Future proposal called Bridging the Digital Divide.
• Strengthen post-secondary schools as described in the Alberta’s Future Paper, Strengthening Post-Secondary For a Resilient Future.

Notley compared an Alberta Value-Add Incentive Program to a similar, highly successful program introduced by the NDP for the petrochemical industry in 2016.

“That led to billions of dollars in new investments, new industrial projects and thousands of new jobs in that sector. I believe that the same kind of breakthrough is possible for agri-food,” Notley said.

The province-wide consultation was led by Heather Sweet, NDP Critic for Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Economic Development.

“It has been a tremendous privilege for me to spend these past years travelling to rural communities right across Alberta and hearing first-hand what agricultural producers need to meet the challenges of today and seize the opportunities of tomorrow,” said Sweet. “From those many conversations, it’s clear that AgTech and value-add industries are critical to unlocking the full potential of rural economies.

“What also came through loud and clear is that the government must be more than a partner – it must be a champion for this sector. We can develop the innovative ideas of today’s Alberta students and researchers, and turn them into new industrial projects and new jobs.”