Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you as well, members, for inviting us here today.
Let me begin by giving you some background on the role of the Agriculture and Food Council of Alberta.
The council is a non-profit society formed in 1994. It is an industry-led organization made up of volunteer member representatives from across Alberta's agrifood industry, including a student member and ex-officio members from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. An election is held every spring to replace members whose terms have expired. The council represents a diagonal slice of the agrifood industry in Alberta and includes members from the production, processing, retail, and research sectors as well as other sections of the value chain.
The council is a catalyst for the agrifood industry to encourage growth, sustainability, competitiveness, and profitability. The council assists the industry to achieve long-term stability, sustainability, and profitability through programs and services that enable the modernization needed to compete in this constantly changing and complex global environment.
This is accomplished through several programs, including advancing Canadian agriculture and agrifood, ACAAF; the innovation in agribusiness management fund; the advanced leadership and management development program; and human resource projects.
Past projects have included a value chain initiative, the environmental policy initiative program; and administering the Canadian adaptation and rural development fund, CARD, and the biofuels opportunities for producers initiative, BOPI.
The council acts as a policy forum, providing a platform where ideas and information can be exchanged and policy options developed and where industry members can engage one another, stakeholders, and the public. The council also annually undertakes a strategic planning session and subsequently drafts a strategic and business plan. Several presenters this year and in past years have highlighted food safety as a priority.
One of the council's main activities is administering the ACAAF program on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. ACAAF was launched in 2004 as a successor to the CARD program. It was a five-year program with total funding of $240 million, ending March 31, 2009, and granting approximately $29 million in Alberta. The objectives of ACAAF were to expand the sector's capacity to respond to current and emerging issues, position the sector to capture market opportunities, actively and continuously engage the sector to contribute to future agriculture and agrifood policy directions, and integrate sector-led projects tested and piloted under ACAAF into future government or industry initiatives.
There is a sister council in every province and territory across Canada, with two in Quebec. Industry councils have identified project proposals that had broad application, and when more than one council shared the same priority, these projects were considered under what is called the collective outcomes process. The council is thankful for the funding received from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for the CARD, BOPI, and ACAAF programs and is in the process of working with our counterparts within the department on the development of a successor program.
Through CARD and ACAAF, the council has funded several industry-led projects in food safety. Those include several workshops on HACCP, on-farm food safety pilot programs, piloting the food safety information society, and projects to test new processes and technologies for food safety, including high-pressure processing, new product development to meet regulatory requirements, and several projects involving evaluating disinfectants in processing plants.
I would like to briefly highlight two of these projects for you. The Alberta technology innovation program from Food Beverage Canada was funded through ACAAF in the winter of 2006. It is a program to provide opportunities for small and medium-sized processing companies to access, explore, and evaluate leading-edge technologies related to food safety, environment, processes, packaging, labelling, and storage. It is based on a 50-50 cost share of eligible expenses and has funded over 300 participants to attend over 100 events to date, resulting in companies investing in new processes, modified products, increased technical knowledge, and business partnerships.
Another project we funded that may be of interest to this group is the control of biofilm microorganisms on surfaces associated with meat processing facilities. This project was from Innovotech. It was also a project funded in the winter of 2006 with our sister councils in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and the Quebec food processors council. Completed in the fall of 2008, this project developed and investigated the efficiency of different commercially available disinfectant combinations on primary and secondary processing surfaces in slaughterhouses. The company is continuing to disseminate results, and the project has led to subsequent projects. More information on either of these projects is also available, and I can provide you with some of the recommendations from these projects as well.
As these projects highlight, the council's projects often involve partnerships between industry and provincial and federal governments, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency when appropriate. They have tested ideas that have subsequently been funded and taken up by industry.
We have also been able to engage industry in food safety through some of our other activities. Several of our value chain projects involve traceability, and we have also been invited to participate with groups as they have developed biosecurity programs.
As you are aware, our knowledge around food safety issues is constantly evolving and expanding. I'll keep my presentation brief, as I am not the lead on these projects, but I can speak to them as well. It is the council's point of view that funding innovative research projects in these areas that are led by industry at a grassroots level allows for research and results to have an impact on the key stakeholders in a timely fashion that meets their needs.
The approach is proactive and allows the industry to have a significant impact on the direction and dissemination of research, which ultimately increases the likelihood of its uptake. With its cross-sectional representation, the council is available to assist in the dissemination of information to a wide audience.
Thank you.