The Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA) will not shut down any programs because of the $8-million cut out of its budget, but each program will receive less.
“What we did is reduce the amount of the envelope for each of the programs,” said Gordon Cove, CEO of ALMA.
ALMA’s budget was slashed from about $40 million to $32 million as part of the Agriculture Ministry’s budget cuts announced in March. “We applied it over the two big areas that we have, which is industry investments… and another couple over on our strategic initiative side,” Cove said.
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The agency lopped $4 million from either side. The industry investment side funds projects such as marketing initiatives and productivity gains. The strategic initiative side funds projects focusing on research, development and innovation.
The provincial government is the only source of ALMA funding. Cove said it uses those funds and industry money to leverage more dollars. He said this is the first time the agency has faced a drastic cut in its budget, noting the province is in a difficult fiscal situation.
“The thinking is that our budget would slowly rebound and come back,” he said. “It’s a one-time hit.”
Three staff positions were also cut. ALMA only employed 30 people. “That’s significant for us,” he said. Cove said ALMA will continue “full speed ahead” but will be more selective of what projects it decides to fund.
Opposition parties’ agriculture critics all said ALMA does good work in research and supporting the livestock industry. Liberal MLA and agriculture critic, David Swann and his NDP counterpart David Eggen both called the $8-million cut “short sighted.”
“That’s pretty dramatic and pretty serious for an industry that’s already struggling with market share,” Swann said. He said whether or not ALMA’s funds are restored in future budgets depends on the oil and gas sector, which he said the provincial coffers are too dependent on.
“I think it sends a message that they’re not serious about supporting the industry,” Eggen said. He added that Alberta needs to diversify its economy and taking away money from supporting the livestock industry is counterproductive.
Ian Donovan, the Wildrose and opposition agriculture critic, said whether it’s research or things like post-secondary schools, investment in the future is important. “I hope it’s just a one-year blip on it. From what I’ve been seeing (ALMA’s) been doing some good work,” Donovan said.
