By Angela Brown

MLA Cockrill discusses province’s support for value-added agriculture

Apr 30, 2021 | 3:52 PM

REGINA, Sask. — Battlefords MLA Jeremy Cockrill discussed the province’s support for the agriculture industry and value-added initiatives in the new budget during his presentation at the Saskatchewan Legislature Friday.

During the debate, he said the government’s agriculture value-added strategies outlined in its provincial growth plan, will help bolster Saskatchewan in its short-term economic recovery and ensure its long-term prosperity.

“When I stand here today and talk about value-added agriculture in this House, I understand the urgency with which we must create the conditions and pursue the opportunities that are available to us here in Saskatchewan,” he said. “As land prices increase and the cost of labour increases, and our producers face increasing global competition, it is even more essential to have value-added options for producers to ensure they can be successful at the primary level.”

Cockrill commended the work of producer-owned North West Terminal Ltd. in Unity in creating value-added initiatives in addition to serving as a grain handling facility. The organization established an adjacent facility that produces ethanol for fuel, industrial and potable markets, among its ventures.

“Even during the COVID-19 pandemic the company was able to shift more of their production to provide the key ingredients for products such as hand sanitizer,” he said. “This facility and organization is a great example of how value-added agriculture presents immense opportunities for us here in Saskatchewan.”

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Cockrill said the province has a four-part strategy to support competitiveness, research and development, international market development, and investment attraction in agriculture.

The MLA said the province needs a robust post-secondary education sector ready to train people from Saskatchewan and elsewhere to obtain the skills the industry requires. He added the province’s advanced education budget offers “a forward-looking strategy to fund post-secondary institutions.”

“This four-year funding model helps them both recover from what has been a challenging 14 months, and then make some significant investments up-front that will better prepare them to be competitive in an increasingly challenging marketplace,” said Cockrill. “But also to better prepare their students for an evolving economy.”

Cockrill’s full speech can be heard here:

In response to Cockrill’s remarks, Regina-Rosemont NDP MLA Trent Wotherspoon agreed there are a number of value-added opportunities in agriculture in the province that need to be pursued.

He added jobs in agriculture-related processing are also helping bolster jobs in rural Saskatchewan and the economy.

Wotherspoon took the opportunity to question the province’s response on certain matters. He expressed his concerns about the province’s support for the AgriStability risk management program and would like to see more done.

“It’s a program that’s important that needs to be fixed for producers…,” he said. “We need to make sure producers have the foundation that they can count on, and fixing that program is critical.”

In an interview with battlefordsNOW following the debate, Cockrill said the province continues to strongly support AgriStability and other programs to assist producers.

“Our provincial government, we fully funded the Business Risk Management programs that are available to farmers. We have increased crop insurance coverages,” he said. “So we have made the necessary investments on that side of ag.”

Cockrill said the province is also committed to supporting agriculture research in the budget.

“We increased the agriculture budget overall in this year’s budget, including on the research side which I was speaking to a little bit today [Friday] in my comments in the House,” he said. “When I speak with various stakeholder groups around the province representing different commodities or sectors, they talk a lot about research funds and making sure that those are put into the pot that the feds [federal government] and the province share to fund research. And we have done that. We have increased those dollars this year. So there is lots of money for agriculture this year in the budget.”

The full debate can be viewed when available on the Legislative Assembly’s website.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow