By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Dec 6, 2023 | 4:20 PM

The crop hail industry increased capacity in 2023 to accommodate another year of high demand, according to the Canadian Crop Hail Association.

President Scott McQueen said most companies had coverage available for producers until the deadline of Aug. 1.

“Our member companies successfully avoided the early sales closure we had in 2022 by increasing capacity to match very high sales volume between May and June,” McQueen said. “I’m proud of the work we did this season and I encourage producers to contact a CCHA company soon to help with planning for next year.”

The industry provided more than $18 billion in coverage across the prairie provinces. In Alberta, producers received $357 million in insurance payments, including the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation crop hail endorsement. Producers received $76.9 million in Saskatchewan and $54.3 million in Manitoba.

McQueen said CCHA members have completed final hail damage claims.

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The Leduc food centre’s Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator (APBI) is being expended by 2,300 square metres. This will allow more food processing companies to take the next steps to grow their business and put more food on tables around the world.

APBI helps small businesses prepare products for sale within Canada and around the world by providing them with the tools they need to meet federal food regulation requirements. Since the APBI was established by Alberta’s government in 2007, it has helped small businesses produce a wide variety of value-added food products for retail, wholesale, hospitality and food service markets. These products range from dumplings to baked goods and even fully cooked meat items.

Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson said it’s a good investment.

“Alberta’s food industry is known for its affordable, high-quality products that are helping to feed the world. This expansion is a great step in helping Alberta’s agri-food sector continue to grow,” Sigurdson said. “When our agri-food industry thrives, it drives innovation and boosts Alberta’s economy.”

Alberta’s agri-food processing industry is growing, with food manufacturing sales reaching a record $22.7 billion in 2022, more than 20 per cent of total provincial manufacturing sales.

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A new project will see the development of artificial intelligence technology to address some of the biggest issues faced by Canada’s lentil growers.

With support from Protein Industries Canada, partners Ukko Agro, Hawk’s Agro and Three Farmers will work together to build out an in-field platform to predict and control anthracnose and Ascochyta blight.

By utilizing AI to address the main diseases of concern in lentil crops, the partners will be able to help farmers and agronomists make improved crop management decisions.

Protein Industries Canada CEO Bill Greuel said consistency of crop and ingredient quality is a key element of strengthening Canada’s domestic food supply chain.

“Our project partners are meeting this need, while also addressing major disease concerns for some of Canada’s most widely grown high protein crops. And with the technology’s potential to be expanded to other plant-protein crops in the future, this is a clear demonstration of how one successful cluster project can benefit the full value chain and ecosystem,” Greuel said.

A total of $2.6 million has been committed to the project, with Protein Industries Canada investing $1.2 million and the partners together investing the remainder.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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