The Province of Nova Scotia has recently started talking about the five capitals: financial, built, natural, human, and social capitals. We risk losing much of this capital as it relates to the farm community in Nova Scotia.
When we talk about financial capital, we're talking about the funds available for public-private sector investment in business activities, research and development, social programs, and other services. The loss of the agricultural sector in rural Nova Scotia will reduce the investments we are able to make in these areas.
Similarly, with built capital, which is manufactured assets, equipment, technology, and infrastructure, again, the loss of rural jobs will burden these public networks.
Natural capital is the natural environment, which is made up of dynamic and interacting systems of organisms and habitat: air, water, land, and the minerals on which they depend. Renewable and non-renewable natural resources are components of the natural capital. This is the heart of the agricultural society, and the loss of farms directly affects the natural capital we possess.
Human capital is the capacity of individuals to participate actively and productively in society and the economy; individual capacities are health, skills, knowledge, creativity, education, training, and experience. Once lost, farm skills and other related skills rarely come back.
Social capital is relationships and networks that support individual and societal well-being and healthy, prosperous communities--again, the heart of rural Nova Scotia.
Without agriculture, where are our rural communities in Nova Scotia?
Now we want to talk a bit about planning for the future. There are a number of things that can be done to support the red meat sector.
The maritime farm community, as mentioned previously, has organized what we call the maritime red meat and feed grains working group. That group has made requests to Minister Ritz for different things. One of them is securing funds for development of a business plan that will not reinvent the wheel but will build upon the current and previous study material. The second is to develop the guidelines for the request for proposal and the business plan development.
There were also some things that need clarification from the federal budget. We still don't have any details around the $500 million agriculture flexibility program to facilitate the implementation of new initiatives federally and in partnership with the province. We've had some discussions with the provincial government in Nova Scotia, and they're still waiting to know whether matching funds are required, how that will be allocated to the provinces, and how much flexibility we really will have for those programs.
The other is the $50 million that was announced, over the next three years, to strengthen the slaughterhouse capacity in the various regions of the country. We have a great deal of interest in that. The Province of Nova Scotia is working with a couple of our small packers to develop a submission once we have an application process for that.
We were recently told that this is now a loan rather than a grant. That's a disappointment to us. We believe it should be a grant, with matching funds from slaughter facilities and some support from the province.