Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) Update

CARD funding extended
The federal government has announced the extension of the Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development (CARD) Fund to the end of March, 2004.

“The extension of CARD is a reflection of its overwhelming success,” said Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lyle Vanclief. “To date, CARD has funded more than 4800 projects across Canada and has played an important part in helping the sector thrive and prosper. This fifth year of CARD will continue to build on that success, and will allow us to determine the fund’s future direction while complementing the implementation of our national Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) programming.”

The APF is a co-ordinated effort among the provinces, territories and industry to develop an integrated plan to help Canada’s agriculture industry be more adaptable and profitable, and to meet consumer demands for safe food and a healthy environment, according to the news release.

Coordinator for value chain initiative
AAC’s approved strategy to encourage value chains in the agriculture and food industry took a major step forward with the recent appointment of Martin Gooch to coordinate the initiative. AAC Chair Murray Porteous said the Council is actively encouraging strategic alliances and value chains as a way of improving Ontario’s position in the highly competitive international marketplace.

Tom Smyth, an AAC Director and strong supporter of value chains, welcomes Gooch and his extensive international experience. “Martin will meet representatives from all sectors to further encourage establishment of links and alliances among producers, processors, distributors and retailers.”

Martin earned a Masters degree in value chain management, and has more than 20 years of agribusiness experience in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. He believes that AAC is in a strategic position to facilitate the growth of value chains in Ontario. Independent organizations, representative of the industry, have been “extraordinarily effective” in facilitating the development of strategic alliances in other countries, he says.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) supports AAC’s value chain initiative as a way of “improving synergies across the food production and delivery system.” To this end, OMAF’s Dennis Flaming will work closely with the AAC on a value chain program and coordinate the contributions of key industry and OMAF resources to develop specific value chain projects.

AAC’s board will provide focus and direction and staff will assist in developing and implementing programs designed for the Ontario industry.

Anyone interested in pursing the value chains concept can contact Martin at
519-822-7554 or mgooch@adaptcouncil.org

1