Western Canada’s agricultural councils, the support agencies for several programs promoting innovation in agriculture, will jointly back an education and awareness program to promote value chains.
The four councils and their provinces’ governments will back the Western Canadian Value Chain Initiative, bringing an interprovincial focus to a series of workshops to be held this spring on how farmers and agri-food processors can build and expand their support networks across the West.
The workshops across Western Canada will give participants the chance to learn from “experienced value chain experts as well as network with other people within the agriculture and agri-food sector,” said Kristin Yaworski-London, co-ordinator of the provincial Value Chain Initiative for the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council (MRAC).
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Value chains are mechanisms that allow farmers, processors and retailers to work together on products to meet consumer demand, share profits and minimize the risks, Yaworski-London explained in an MRAC release Wednesday.
The other council partners include the B.C. Investment Agriculture Foundation, the Alberta Agriculture and Food Council and the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan (formerly the Saskatchewan Council for Community Development).
MRAC plans to hold its first module workshops in Dauphin and Brandon in March. The Alberta council plans a Module 1 and 2 workshop at Leduc Jan. 14 and 15.
The four councils are also the secretariats for several government programs aimed at innovation in agriculture, such as the Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) program and the Biofuels Opportunities for Producers Initiative (BOPI).
