By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Friday March 4, 2022

Mar 4, 2022 | 9:54 AM

MELFORT, Sask. — Canada is recognized worldwide for producing high-quality malting barley.

To remain competitive in the global marketplace, the industry is working to build its reputation, expand its customer base and promote new varieties that meet the needs of customers.

The Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) managing director Peter Watts said the $960,000 will be used to expand existing and develop new markets for Canadian barley and barley products.

“Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is providing an important investment that matches CMBTC member contributions, to fund our work providing technical and marketing support to Canada’s barley value chain, promoting the premium value proposition of Canadian barley and malt in global markets,” Watts said in a news release.

Canadian barley, as a cereal crop, is important for crop rotations and has a lower environmental impact compared to other crops.

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Barley is also the main feed stock for the livestock industry in Western Canada.

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The group that represents Saskatchewan’s rural municipalities welcomes the new opportunity to develop livestock and human vaccine in Saskatchewan.

SARM met with the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) in January, to discuss the ways rural municipalities can support the world’s response to infectious diseases. This includes helping to establish VIDO as Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research.

SARM president Ray Orb said the group is excited about the prospects. He said SARM is committed to working with VIDO.

“We acknowledge and support the extensive work VIDO has done in the past four decades. We recognize many of our rural members’ livelihoods depend on the health and well-being of their livestock and VIDO is leading the way in developing essential animal vaccines and antivirals,” Orb said.

SARM’s 296 rural municipalities are home to large cattle, sheep, bison, and swine producers. VIDO’s research directly impacts producers, feedlots, and ranches.

VIDO’s work include the creation of Vicogen, a recognizable vaccine against calf scours launched in 1978, a new vaccine for lung disease in sheep, and a vaccine for lung plaque in cattle.

Work is continuing on the development of vaccines for Chronic Wasting Disease and African Swine Fever.

Orb said SARM intends to continue its support for VIDO and its international partners studying human and animal pathogens and developing solutions for infectious diseases around the world.

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Over $1 million in funding is being provided to seven businesses to advance automation and robotic technologies for solving challenges such as work productivity and labour shortages and operational efficiency in the agricultural sector.

Under the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program each business will receive $150,000.

This program supports innovators while they develop their products and technologies to address challenges in the agriculture sector.

Projects receiving funding through the Canadian Meat Processing Technology Development Challenge will aim to make advances in automation through robotics and artificial intelligence to reduce reliance on manual labour.

The Enhancing Automation in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Farming Challenge will work to develop automation and robotic technologies to reduce time spent on labour intensive tasks and reduce costs for CEA facilities.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW