The full economic contribution of the food and agriculture industries is estimated to be nearly $7 trillion. The industries account for nearly one-fifth of the country’s economic activity, directly contributing $2.7 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product and supporting more than 40 million jobs^[1]. The key to the success of these industries is millions of farmworkers. The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of these workers and their contributions to our nation’s food security, and simultaneously highlighted challenges of labor instability, irregular migration, and the need for increased labor protections in order to increase the resiliency of our food system and supply chain.

To address these challenges, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in coordination with the other federal agencies will develop a pilot program utilizing up to $65 million in American Rescue Plan funding to provide support for agricultural employers in implementing robust health and safety standards to promote a safe, healthy work environment for both U.S. workers and workers hired from Northern Central American countries under the seasonal H-2A visa program.

The program will aim to improve the resiliency of our food and agricultural supply chain and advance several major Administration priorities:

• Driving U.S. economic recovery and safeguarding domestic food security by addressing current labor shortages in agriculture. Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, agricultural employers were struggling to secure a stable workforce. The pandemic has only exacerbated this problem, threatening our domestic capacity to produce a safe and robust food supply. This pilot program will help address this shortage by expanding the potential pool of workers.
• Reducing irregular migration through the expansion of legal pathways. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken numerous steps to address the elevated levels of irregular migration from Northern Central America. The H-2A visa program offers a lawful pathway for individuals from these countries to come to the United States to engage in temporary or seasonal agricultural work. An effective H-2A visa program is critical to the resiliency of the food and agricultural supply chain. This pilot program will aim to address challenges that both workers and employers face in utilizing the program.
• Improving working conditions for farmworkers. Strong working conditions are critical to the resiliency of the food and agricultural supply chain. Through this pilot program, USDA will support efforts to improve working conditions for both U.S. and H-2A workers and ensure that H-2A workers are not subjected to unfair recruitment practices.

USDA will provide opportunities for stakeholder engagement as the program is developed. USDA will also partner with the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) through a technical assistance cooperative agreement to inform USDA of the challenges faced by agricultural workers and to inform development of the pilot program. UFW will work with relevant stakeholders, including farmers, farmworkers, farmworker advocates, and unions, to ensure that the agency benefits from a wide range of views. After the consultation and program development phase, USDA intends to launch a competitive pilot program ahead of the growing season in early 2023.

Source: USDA

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“As part of this study, we conducted a historical analysis going back to 1980 and found that fertilizer costs tend to go up when corn revenues increase. Notably, these prices tend to go up exponentially even after accounting for natural gas prices and higher demand,”

says Joe Outlaw, Ph.D., the AFPC co-director.

Dee Vaughan, a farmer in the Texas Panhandle, says his farm has felt the impact of climbing prices that account for approximately 36% of a farms’ operating cost.

“In just over 2-years, I’ve seen an astonishing 264% increase in the cost of nitrogen fertilizer alone. My farm’s overall fertilizer cost has increased 241%,”

Vaughan says.

Farms are experiencing this price hit regardless of location. Jim Sugarek who farms near Bee County in South Texas also saw a 264% increase in fertilizer costs on his family farm.

“As I prepare to put a seed in the ground in just a few weeks, I couldn’t wait to see if these price hikes would settle to something close to a normal year – much less risk them surging even more,”

Sugarek says.

In the study’s historical analysis of the nitrogen fertilizer industry, four manufacturers, including CF Industries, Nutrien, Koch, and Yara-USA, account for approximately 75% of the total domestic nitrogen fertilizer production.

Inflation and supply chain issues experienced nationwide have been cited by the industry as key factors to the impact on farmers’ fertilizer prices. However, the study shows there are some trends to be considered to the contrary.

Namely, the industry indicates natural gas accounts for 70-90% of variable production costs for nitrogen fertilizer. The study finds that the increase in one type of nitrogen fertilizer, anhydrous ammonia, the value of natural gas accounts for only 15%, or $102, of recent price increases.

“The study shows that once the value of natural gas has been subtracted from nitrogen, the residual tends to closely track the price of corn,”

Outlaw notes.

While this correlation could nod to increased demand for nitrogen products as corn prices rise, it could also be “due to the exercise of market power by nitrogen product manufacturers,” the study asserts.

“Our findings raise serious questions and clearly help explain the frustration with this situation farmers are feeling nationwide,”

Outlaw says.

The study was commissioned by state corn checkoffs and associations in Texas, Missouri, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

As noted in National Corn Growers Association’s release today, looming tariffs would add insult to injury. The AFPC study states,

“Any import tax on nitrogen fertilizers would raise prices for both domestically produced and imported fertilizer by the full amount of the tax rate multiplied by the pre-tax price.

“Fertilizers play an integral role in a crop’s health and success. The steep price hikes hitting farm country are alarming for corn farmers who count on nitrogen and other fertilizers for their plants to thrive. The breadth of how far-reaching this is impacting farmers is telling that something needs to be done to keep America’s farmers from bearing the burden of an industry pushing the limit of how thin they can cut a farms’ margins,”

Vaughan concludes.

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“In times of need, it is imperative our communities have access to healthy foods. Providing financial support to our local food banks helps connect the nutritious foods our customers grow to those trying to make ends meet,”

said Mark Littlefield, President, and CEO of Farm Credit West.

Every year, Farm Credit West prioritizes distributing funds to fight food insecurity through its robust charitable giving program. This year, seventeen food banks received a donation to support their local programs helping families impacted by illness, job loss, or loss of a home.

“Stewardship is at the core of Farm Credit West’s mission. Year after year, we keep a keen eye on the most vulnerable in our local communities and respond with financial assistance. Our Association and its Board of Directors recognize the direct impact these organizations have on our communities and dedicate our resources to help ensure no family goes hungry.”

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Companies operating in emerging markets, low volume producers, and pilot plants need such a system, which offers a compact and flexible low rate packing process to meet their special needs. Likewise, with their diverse portfolios, raw material producers need to be able to adapt their packaging solutions in a versatile way.

The modular system offers maximum flexibility

With more than 100 possible variants, the GEA SmartFil M1 can be configured to suit almost any application from dry, fine powders to coarse granular products. The new machine offers a nominal filling capacity of 120 bags per hour or three tons per hour at 25 kg product size. Depending on the product being packaged, the packaging system features configurable product metering options, including vertical auger and horizontal vibratory feeder. An optional deaeration probe may be added for improved consolidation of the product if required.

Customers can choose to pack into open-mouth bags, boxes, or drums of varying sizes. Closing is configurable depending on the packaging type. Continuous heat sealing with glue reactivation or with sewing is available for open-mouth bags, whilst impulse sealing is offered for hermetic sealing of plastic packaging. The built-in height-adjustable conveyor system makes packaging changes fast and simple, whilst allowing the operator to work at an ergonomic height. The integrated control panel makes it easy to reconfigure the process to activate the new functions as needed.

Food ingredients

Powdered food ingredients that require a carefully controlled auger metering system will benefit from this option on the GEA SmartFil M1. The vertical auger design with integrated shutoff is well-proven technology that is adapted from other filling systems in the GEA range. With an optional integrated deaeration probe, this filling system will enable food ingredients manufacturers to safely and reliably fill powdered products into bags, boxes, or drums. With a continuous heat-sealing configuration, the SmartFil M1 can consistently produce finished products into 25kg open-mouth bags with either glued closure or sewn closure if required. Alternatively, the impulse sealing option is ideally matched with plastic bags that are commonly used with boxes or cartons.

Coffee and freeze-dried products

Coffee and freeze-dried products tend to be fragile or friable and therefore demand a gentler approach to filling. For these applications, a vibratory feeding solution can be employed to finely meter the product for high accuracy filling. This type of feeding solution eliminates rotating or close contact parts from the product stream, thereby reducing the risk of product breakdown.

To ensure the integrity of the finished product, these types of products are typically filled into flexible plastic bags inserted into cardboard boxes. For this application, a dust-free bag clamping system was chosen. Once filled, the neck of the plastic box liner can be easily inserted into an impulse-type sealer for hermetic sealing. The integrated height-adjustable conveyor enables simple and quick adjustment to suit the selected box/drum size, allowing the operator to work at an ergonomic height. A pivoting conveyor can be added to compensate for height adjustment when the GEA SmartFil M1 is connected to an optional integrated downline.

Dairy ingredients

Small scale dairy plants requiring a hygienic powder filling solution in a compact form can select the GEA SmartFil M1 with auger feed, deaeration (option), and continuous heat sealer with integrated fold-over. This is a cost-effective, high-quality solution for their powder packing operation. When integrated with a downline bag handling system, this cost-effective semiautomatic solution provides high-quality, accurate filling and closing of open-mouth, multi-wall bags. For aluminum foil bags, the sealing system can be changed to an impulse-type sealer as required.

Pet food

The GEA SmartFil M1 can be configured to pack granular products, such as dried pet food, into laminated paper/polypropylene sacks that require a sewn closure. The vibratory feeder provides a gentle metering option, which can be coupled with the sealer/sewing system for effective closure.

Safety first

Product safety is important to all food/pet food processing companies. The GEA SmartFil M1 is certified according to current hygiene standards. GEA integrated technology elements, which secure product safety focused on special areas of the process.

Being a semi-automatic operation, it is important that the filling system is easily accessible for cleaning. This was part of the design concept. Low height, accessible components make maintenance and cleaning operations easier, thereby minimizing potential machine downtime and lost production.

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ARA’s comments focused on the areas that have been identified by its members as priority issues, which include the following:

• Infrastructure: Investment in rural roads and bridges, railroads, ports and inland waterways, and rural broadband are critical to keeping the entire food system moving.
• Crop input production and regulation: ARA has always strongly supported a science- and risk-based regulatory system which fosters innovation, values the environmental benefits that using biotechnology enables agriculture to achieve, and recognizes the long and safe track record of plant and animal breeding along with the overwhelming evidence of the safe use of genetically engineered plants and animals. By protecting existing and emergent technologies that support production, American farmers and ranchers become more sustainable and strengthen the food supply long-term.
• Energy: ARA supports federal policies that increase domestic energy production resulting in reduced production costs for crop input materials manufactured in the United States.
• Labor: ARA favors reforms to the H-2A guest worker visa program to be more inclusive and less complicated for the employer. Additionally, ARA supports reforms to the Farm-Related Restricted Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) program, more commonly referred to as the Seasonal Ag CDL program.
• Pro-growth economic policies: ARA supports policies that will aid in its members finding a more business-friendly marketplace in which to operate. There are several barriers to entry within the American tax code that could be amended to protect ag retailers’ freedom and license to operate. These pro-growth policies will also positively impact the nation’s food supply chain and its resiliency.
• Food equity: Maintaining the ability to grow and produce food is at the heart of the American food system. This effort is led by America’s agricultural retailers working with their farm and ranch customers. Every item that consumers eat in the United States and around the world starts out being grown or produced before it eventually makes its way to the consumer’s plate.

“There is no easy fix to the supply chain disruptions facing the agriculture industry and any solutions need a multi-pronged approach including, but not limited to, issues of infrastructure, crop input production and regulation, energy, labor, pro-growth economic policies, and food equity,”

said ARA Director of Public Policy Hunter Carpenter.

“Any long-term solutions to addressing the challenges we face in supply chain disruptions will only be found through the continued partnership between the agricultural retailer, their farmer customers, and regulating authorities.”

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Giving away nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables has been, and still is, our response to the economic disarray resulting from the coronavirus situation.

Our food donation program has been entirely funded privately by Agrotonomy and its officers. Agrotonomy is not a non-profit organization, and this is why, in 2021, we will be reducing slightly our donation program to 75% of our entire production, versus 95% in 2020.

Our initiative has been well-publicized through Facebook and other social media platforms: our efforts have inspired many other farmers and gardeners around the world to share a certain percentage of their harvests with their disadvantaged neighbors.

Agrotonomy has set up the first aeroponic vertical farms in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East: We are currently working with our partner Tower Farms in Africa and Southeast Asia to launch similar fresh food donation programs as well.

The problem with most food bank initiatives is that due to logistics, the majority of all foods collected and donated are either canned and/or processed. This is why we believe in contributing to ‘the solution’ by donating pesticide-free and highly nutritious fresh crops to those in need.

We use aeroponic towers which allow us to save up to 95% water in comparison to conventional farming.

Aside from our food donation program in Ibiza, Spain, we are also the team behind Towers Without Borders Inc., a US non-profit organization (501-C3 registered in Arizona). Towers Without Borders is a charity committed to set up aeroponic vertical farms for orphanages around the world.

From seeds to seedlings, and from seedlings to harvests, children are encouraged through various programs to get involved with growing plants. Teaching children the value of food security is the best gift that we can give to the next generation of adults.

Over the next 18 months, with the support of Agrotonomy’s team, Towers Without Borders will be setting up 3 vertical farms for orphanages in Mexico, Colombia, and Kenya. We were supposed to be almost done with these 3 projects by mid-2021, however, due to COVID-19, their implementation has been significantly delayed.

Although Agrotonomy is still committed to developing fully automated aeroponic Tower Farms around the world for the commercial sector, our passion truly lies in our charitable endeavors!

Ron Finley (the ‘gangsta gardener’) once said “Growing food is like printing your own money”: such a statement bears even a stronger meaning when we are all going through a pandemic….. 2021 is going to be a challenging year! You can count on us to donate up to 75% of our production

Source: Agrotronomy

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Layne Mustian is a senior at Texas A&M University where she is majoring in agricultural communications and journalism and minoring in both agricultural economics and tourism management. Layne’s interest in agriculture grew into a passion at a young age as she watched her father grow and conduct critical research on various crops in the Texas panhandle. In high school, Layne combined her passion for agriculture with communication through youth leadership organizations like FFA and 4-H.

In college, Layne continues to strengthen her agriculture knowledge and communication skills through multiple organizations on her campus including, Sigma Alpha Professional Sorority, Texas A&M Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, Texas A&M Meat Science and Technology Association and the 2019 Fightin’ Texas Aggie Meat Judging Team.

Layne currently works as the communication student technician at the Texas A&M Natural Resource institute where she helps bring attention to NRI efforts through creating blog articles, managing social media, assisting in collecting communication data and producing curriculum aid for private landowners. After graduation, Layne plans to attend graduate school and eventually pursue a career in the agricultural industry.

In her free time, Layne enjoys practicing her photography skills, traveling with friends, cooking new recipes and reading inspirational novels.

Vice President: Rachel McGreal

Rachel McGreal is a sophomore at the University of Illinois majoring in Agricultural Communications with a concentration in Journalism and a minor in Food and Environmental Sciences. Rachel grew up on a family farm in Central Illinois where she enjoyed learning about production agriculture from the cab of the combine alongside her father. She was actively involved in her high school’s FFA chapter where she successfully earned a state championship in the Vet Science and Agricultural Communications contest. In 2018, she was on the FFA National Championship Agricultural Sales team.

While in college, Rachel is involved in Illini Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow and Illini Equine Rescue Society. She has broadened her communications skills by taking on a number of different videography and photography projects for some of the colleges and departments within the university. A hobby she picked up from a young age, photography and videography have easily become a passion she hopes to pursue in a future career in the agriculture industry. Rachel would also like to return to the family farm in pursuit of becoming a fifth-generation farmer.

In her free time, Rachel enjoys traveling, photography and videography, helping on the farm, and riding her horse.

Secretary/Treasurer: Lauryn Luttrull

Lauryn is a junior at West Texas A&M University where she is pursuing a degree in Agricultural Media and Communication with a minor in Management. Lauryn has also received her event planning certification.

Lauryn has always had a passion for agriculture due to her family’s roots. She plans to attend graduate school and one day open her own event management company. In her free time, Lauryn enjoys volunteering at Make a Wish through her sorority Chi Omega. She also enjoys spending time with her friends and family.

Member Relations Coordinator: Zach Andrews

Zach Andrews is currently a Junior at the University of Arkansas where he is triple majoring in Agricultural Business, Communications, and Leadership. Originally, he is from Camden, Arkansas where he marked the third generation in his family’s registered Hereford cattle operation.

Zach credits his lifelong experiences in the cattle industry and his year serving as an Arkansas FFA State Officer for his passion for the agricultural industry and the people that make it up. After graduating with his undergraduate degrees, he hopes to attend graduate school.

Communications Coordinator: Callie McClay

Callie McClay is currently a junior at the University of Illinois studying Agricultural Communications with a concentration in Advertising. She is also pursuing a double minor in Food & Environmental Systems and Food & Ag Business Management. Having grown up on a farm, Callie has been interested in agriculture from the very beginning. She grew up showing cattle for 4-H and was involved in FFA through high school.

Callie stays busy on campus working as a Media Communications Intern for the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department and as a Social Media Intern for the Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications (ALEC) program. She’s also involved in several clubs and organizations. She’s currently the President of the Illini ACT Chapter, Vice President of the UIUC National Agri-Marketing Association and a member of Collegiate Farm Bureau, 4-H House Cooperative Sorority, College of ACES Student Advancement Committee, and an ALEC Ambassador.

This summer, Callie will be interning at Caterpillar as a Corporate Technical Marketing Intern. In the future, she plans to continue working for Caterpillar or an agriculture company in the marketing sector. Eventually, she would like to return to her family’s farm in hopes of being a 9^th generation farmer.

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Sharing and having already put into practice this approach, FPT Industrial has teamed up with Slow Food to support two local communities, in Italy and in France, in order to facilitate and accelerate their journey towards change. Founded in 1989, Slow Food is a global grassroots organization, established to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of the so-called ‘fast lifestyle’ and to combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, and how our food choices affect the world around us. Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean, and fair food.

FPT Industrial chose to partner with Slow Food in order to strongly reaffirm, at the local level, its long-time commitment to sustainability; a commitment demonstrated not only through the production of low-impact, high-performance engines, but also with sustainability projects and concrete actions, such as “Fishing for Plastic”, the initiative enabled three tons of plastic to be retrieved from the seas of San Benedetto del Tronto (Italy), and Urban Forestry, a reforestation project involving the planting of 1,000 trees of 32 native species in the Basse di Stura area to the north of Turin (Italy).

The two communities jointly selected by FPT Industrial and Slow Food are the cooperatives Valdibella and NoE in Sicily and La Seyne-Sur-Mer Prud’homie in the Var department in France. The Valdibella cooperative, in the Italian region of Sicily, operates in the production and transformation of biological food. Its 41 members favor the farming of local and ancient varieties and use sustainable agriculture approaches through conservation cultivation methods in order to maintain natural soil fertility. The NoE (No Emargination) cooperative was founded in 1993 and deals with the social inclusion of disabled people. In 1998 the city of Partinico entrusted it with a plot of confiscated land from the mafia. This land was converted into biological agriculture fields, cultivated with olive trees, vegetables, and arable crops.

FPT Industrial and Slow Food will support the two cooperatives in their projects focused on the creation of a “food forest” reproducing the natural eco-system and capable of diversifying food production while preserving the landscape, and to create a free and autonomous supply chain model, to deliver high-quality biological food to everybody at an affordable price.

The La Seyne-Sur-Mer Prud’homie is one of the 33 prud’homies (fishing collectives) present along France’s Mediterranean coast. These collective organizations, tied to specific geographic areas, evolved out of medieval trade guilds and have been used to manage French marine resources for over ten centuries.

The prud’homies play an essential control and conservation role in marine zones, preserving a historic cultural model and participating in everyday port life. About 20 fishermen, some of them working with FPT Industrial powered boats, are committed to sustainable fishing and to passing these virtuous traditions on to younger generations through the strengthening of the local supply chain.

Through the FPT Industrial and Slow Food support, the community will be able to upgrade its infrastructure, with special attention for those devoted to maintaining the cold chain and to improving fish management, as well as to create additional local jobs.

These two projects are an important opportunity for FPT Industrial to promote the brand and the product portfolio, including the related sustainability initiatives.

Daniela Ropolo, Head of Sustainable Development Initiatives at CNH Industrial, declared:

“Having led some of the most prestigious World Sustainability Indices over the last decade- Also means demonstrating, day by day, true interest and concrete support for all those initiatives which can produce a tangible change in people’s and communities’ lives, be they big or small. In exactly the same way as the $2 million global Solidarity Fund initiative CNH Industrial has set up to support the fight against Covid-19 in communities where businesses have been affected by the virus.”

Egle Panzella, Brand Equity, Sustainability, and Heritage manager of FPT Industrial, stated:

“The strong proximity of these two communities’ fields of action with two of our main businesses, marine and agricultural engines. Acted like a starter and ignited a real enthusiasm among all involved in this project. To have the opportunity to contribute to making a difference, helping people committed to a healthier, more just, and more sustainable way of living and producing is part of FPT Industrial’s DNA and mission. And doing this in partnership with Slow Food is a real privilege.”

“Slow Food believes food is tied to many other aspects of life, including culture, politics, agriculture, and the environment. Through our food choices, we can collectively influence how food is cultivated, produced, and distributed, and change the world as a result. These projects had already started, but they needed ‘to accelerate’ in order to show that the right way is the right choice. That’s why we, in cooperation and collaboration with our partners and supporters, decided to finance them. Because the change has to happen: and happen now.”

commented Francesco Sottile of Slow Food.

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The COVID emergency has given new centrality to agriculture which, unlike other productive activities, has shown greater resilience in the face of the pandemic. In a global environment characterized by a generalized decline in many sectors, which resulted in a significant drop in world GDP (-4.5% at the end of the year according to the OECD), the primary sector instead increased its production capacity. This fact is highlighted by Alessandro Malavolti, president of FederUnacoma, the Italian association of manufacturers of agricultural machinery, who at the Federation’s Annual General Meeting held today in Bologna took stock of the main trends in the primary sector and the market of agricultural machinery. According to FAO estimates – noted the president of FederUnacoma – in 2020 global grain production should reach a record value of 2,756 million tonnes (+2.2% in 2019), with an increase also in demand (+2.4%) and world trade (+1.6%). Milk production was also positive (+0.8%), while meat recorded a drop of 1.7% due to contingent factors. The prices of the main commodities also rose, with meat, poultry, and rice showing increases of 8.3%, 7.7%, and 8.2% respectively.

The food insecurity created by the pandemic – according to the FAO, by 2020 the number of undernourished people could grow by 130 million – and the growing demand for food in different areas of the world give agriculture, and with it agricultural mechanization, an increasingly strategic role also to guarantee social stability. “In this landscape – said the president of FederUnacoma – agricultural machines are an essential tool for enhancing production and safeguarding the territory. In fact, thanks to the research and innovation activities of our industries, today’s mechanical machines use more and more eco-friendly technologies, also in line with the political priorities formulated by the European Commissioner Ursula Von DerLeyen“. Despite this strategic role, today the world mechanization market is experiencing a transition phase, with different trends from country to country. The first half of the year saw an increase in tractor sales in the United States (+10.4%) and Russia (+7%), certain stability in Canada (+0.3%), and a setback in Brazil (-5%). The most significant decreases are recorded in the Asian markets: Japan (-29.5%), Korea (-7.3%), and especially India (-11.3%). Turkey is a case to itself, recording a 75% increase as a rebound after the collapse of recent years. The minus sign prevails in Europe where the market contraction amounted to 12.1%, corresponding to 68,831 registered tractors. The Italian market was in the red, even if the month of August showed a slight recovery compared to the six-monthly figure, bringing the deficit for the first eight months of the year to 15% (in June it was 18%).

Despite the climate of uncertainty, the August figure seems to foreshadow a possible trend reversal, which is confirmed for Europe as well as for Italy in the recent climate surveys conducted by CEMA, the European manufacturers’ association.

“To ferry the sector out of this situation – added Malavolti – it is essential to assert the strategic role of agricultural machinery. In Italy there is a need for a system of incentives that help the market recovery, especially with a view to technological renewal and innovation; a system based on long-term planning, that is independent of economic and political contingencies”.

In recent months FederUnacoma has presented to the Government a multi-year incentive plan for the purchase of new mechanical machinery. Today we renew this action with the request to allocate part of the funds to be distributed under the Recovery Fund to the agricultural machinery sector.

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The Governments of Canada and Ontario are providing more than $5.4 million through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership to help food processing businesses improve food safety, increase labour productivity and enable better access to markets. These strategic investments will support more than 75 projects across Ontario and strengthen the province’s crucial agri-food supply chain.

Neil Ellis, Member of Parliament for Bay of Quinte and Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, said:

“Targeted investments into the innovation of our food processors such as these ensure our food supply chain remains strong and competitive for years to come. This is about serving our communities from both levels of government, helping to give a boost to our local food businesses and address some of the challenges around labour we are seeing right now.”

Some specific types of projects supported through this programing include:
• Implementing technology or other systems to improve food safety.
• Transitioning to automated, advanced manufacturing and/or robotic processing
technology to enhance labour productivity.
• Developing new products or processes to increase sales.

A list of approved projects is posted online at: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/cap/processor-projects.htm

“Our food processors are an integral part of our province’s economic recovery from this outbreak. By investing in this sector, we are helping our homegrown processors become more competitive, more innovative and better positioned to keep supplying safe, quality foods for domestic and international markets.”

said the Honourable Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs.

The Partnership is also investing in programs this year at provincially inspected dairy processors and provincially licensed meat processors to support food safety enhancement projects. These are in addition to new programming launched this year, like the Agri-food Workplace Protection Program, to assist the sector in protecting its workers from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Since June 2018, both the federal and provincial governments have committed cost-share
support to more than 2,500 projects through the Partnership to help eligible Ontario
farmers, processors, businesses and sector organizations innovate and grow.

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