The governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing nearly $484,000 in equipment and infrastructure needed to conduct specialized research projects on grain storage, federal Agriculture Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, and Manitoba Agriculture Minister, Ralph Eichler announced today.

"Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector is a key driver of our economy. As we innovate new crops and enhance existing ones, we need improvements in storage to keep up with an evolving sector. This funding will help Canadian grain producers grow their businesses and stay competitive, while creating good well-paying jobs in the local economy."
- Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

"Manitoba has an internationally-recognized network of grain handling and storage manufacturers, making this investment essential to supporting the future of these sectors while preserving the quality and standards of our grain products. For Manitoba’s value-added processing industries to grow, we must also continually improve how we store agricultural commodities, with the goal of avoiding spoilage and other losses.”
- Ralph Eichler, Minister of Manitoba Agriculture

"The scale of grain storage bins has increased 10 to 20 times over the last 30 years. On top of that, innovations in crops and harvesting techniques are changing the characteristics of grain going into bins. Scientific and engineering testing has not kept up, leaving agricultural producers in a risky position. The research facilities made possible by this funding will help us to answer new questions in grain storage."
- Harvey Chorney, Vice President and Manager of Manitoba Operations, Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute

• Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute is a non-profit applied research, development and testing organization, serving the agriculture industry in western Canada and internationally. It directly employs 11 people in Portage la Prairie and surrounding areas and completed 126 agricultural research projects last year. Its work is directed by an independent board of producers and the Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments. For more information, visit Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute.

• Funding for this project was provided through Growing Forward 2 . The federal and provincial governments invested $176 million in Manitoba under Growing Forward 2 over the last five years, through a federal-provincial-territorial policy framework intended to advance the agriculture industry, helping producers and processors become more innovative and competitive in world markets. 

• In July 2017, federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture reached an agreement in principle on the key elements of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year, $3 billion investment for strategic initiatives that will set a solid foundation for the future of Canada's farmers and food processors and continue to help them grow, innovate and prosper. The Partnership is set to launch on April 1, 2018.

Associated links

• Growing Forward 2 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
• Growing Forward 2 (Manitoba Agriculture)
• Canadian Agricultural Partnership

Guy Gallant
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay
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Kalen Qually
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ralph Eichler
204-945-0590
kalen.qually@leg.gov.mb.ca