Drought in western Canada was one of many huge agriculture tales in 2021.
“I used to be capable of journey, to witness and meet with farmers,” mentioned Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada’s minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food. “But I’m very happy with what we have been doing in partnership with the provinces, having the ability to roll out AgriRestoration actually quick and in a really nimble method in order that producers received assist quicker than I feel they’d have seen up to now.”
Bibeau famous, “Climate change is certainly a actuality, and farmers are the primary ones to be harm and to face the state of affairs. We should work even tougher to be resilient, adapt and struggle in opposition to it.”
Meantime on the West Coast, Bibeau mentioned current devastating floods have been one other disaster farmers needed to cope with in 2021. The Minister not too long ago travelled to B.C. to get a primary hand take a look at the state of affairs, and see how the federal authorities can assist.
“Obviously my colleagues with the Canadian Armed Forces, and (Department of) Transportation as nicely, to take care of direct help to the farmers when it comes to extra boots on the bottom to help them, but additionally to strengthen our meals provide chain which, as soon as once more, demonstrated to be resilient, however we’ll then should undergo the restoration section. There is a number of work to be finished.”
This previous 12 months additionally noticed Bibeau return to the agriculture portfolio following the spring federal election. She mentioned it’s a privilege to be again within the function.
“I like the agricultural sector, representing our rural and agricultural areas,” she famous. “I’ve been capable of construct relations with representatives of the completely different agricultural sectors throughout the nation, with my counterparts within the provinces as nicely and truly, we’ve began the dialogue across the subsequent partnership settlement for 2023 to 2028. I’m very very glad to be again.”
Additional information on Bibeau’s desk for 2022 embrace a hope to additional authorities’s Agri-Environmental program, and handle labour shortages throughout the sector.