Program Item Details
TITLE: Doug Horner, Minister, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Alberta
SUBJECT: #219 IFASA: Feds Join IFASA Partnership
SYNOPSIS: ..
AUDIO: Download Audio (mp3 format)
TRANSCRIPT:
#219 December 5, 2006
Interview starts at 13:06
Intro: Putting in a word for the Provincial Government was Doug Horner, Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and rural Development.
Doug Horner
DH: The IFASA group is all about collaboration. It’s all about bringing partners together to do research that will benefit in the end the final producer, but overall the entire agriculture value chain in the province of Alberta. What we’ve talked about is our vision in Alberta’s agricultural industry is to drive the value chain so we get margin all the way through the chain and into the producer’s hands as well as through the chain so we can compete globally
In order to compete globally, of course, we’ve got to research the new product development. We have to research new and better ways of doing things, new and better varieties, to reach a consumer need. If we’re just doing research for sake of research, we may or may not meet that consumer need. And really when you boil it all down, it’s all about selling our products internationally for a premium if we can. And certainly to reach those markets and get that market access. So science plays a huge role in that.
Having the federal government on side, obviously they do about 45% of research in Alberta we are partnered with them throughout the province. We have a number of scientists, Agriculture Canada scientists, that are partnered with us on various projects. So it’s a very natural fit. It gives us that extra boost that we were looking for in terms of putting the group together. And in research today, you’re talking about critical mass and making sure you’re not duplicating efforts elsewhere. So having this type of a group together to look at those issues is extremely important for our agriculture industry.
CC: WHAT DO YOU SEE AS BEING ALBERTA’S STRENGTHS?
DH: Well our strengths are that we’re a very innovative group. The entire agriculture industry is willing to look at challenges and look at opportunities and turn those challenges into those opportunities. Alberta’s strengths are we have a very good infrastructure of research right now.
We’ve got a tremendous amount of investment in that infrastructure. We’ve got a number of endowment funds that are available, whether it’s the Alberta Ingenuity Fund or the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research fund. And we’ve put a lot of dollars into the Livestock Development Fund, the Crop Development Fund. All of those things tie into IFASA.
So there’s a funding consortium, there’s a strong talent pool, there’s a strong infrastructure base there. And more importantly, industry is connected to all of that. And that’s really where our strength lies.
CC: THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
DH: My pleasure. Take care.
Doug Horner is Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.
FEATURED LINK: IFASA