By Liam Verster

Agriculture research

MLA Allard expects big turnout for agriculture research engagement session

Jan 15, 2020 | 5:00 AM

The future of agricultural research is up for discussion at a public engagement session this Friday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is holding the session at the Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC), in room A210, from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday, January 17.

The province is asking whether they should continue with the current, government-led research model, or change it to a farmer-led model.

Grande Prairie’s MLA, Tracy Allard, says the government really wants to hear directly from farmers and ranchers about issues.

“One of them being, ‘should agricultural research be government-directed and government funded? Or should we potentially allow farmer-led research? And what governance model for delivering farmer-led research would be most efficient?’ And we want to hear, obviously, from those in the industry, and find out where’s the best use of public funds in this regard.”

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Farmer-led research essentially means farmers would determine which priorities need to be focused on, and what research should be funded, rather than letting the government decide.

Allard says the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Devin Dreeshen, visited the Peace Region in the summer during his Farm Freedom and Safety Act tour. She says the idea of farmer-led research was brought up a lot during the tour, and seemed to have a lot of support.

Allard says agriculture is one of the three pillars of the Grande Prairie community, and the key pillar that settled the community back in the day, and expects to see a lot of farmers and ranchers turn up to the engagement session with ideas, thoughts and opinions on this topic.

“We’re hoping to hear, along with a number of other initiatives: cost savings, efficiencies, red tape reduction, we want to hear what is the most efficient way to get the best information to this industry that we can. So, as a lay person that doesn’t work in agriculture, that would be my take on it. ‘Tell me, from within the industry, how can we do this in the very best way.'”

Along with hosting public engagement sessions, the province is accepting feedback through an online survey, which can be found here. The survey is open until January 31, 2020.

Attendees to the engagement session must register in advance, and can do so by following this link.