Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to give you an overview of the Research Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It is the main national research organization in agriculture and agri-food in Canada. We carry out research activities in 19 centres across the country, including 13 affiliated research stations where we have employees, as well as a number of real property assets. Last week, you visited one of our research centres, in Saskatoon, where we are working on oilseeds and biodiversity. We have a little more than 2,200 full-time equivalents across the country. The annual research budget is approximately $200 million. The budget associated with capital projects and equipment use is not included in that amount. Another division of the Department pays for that, which represents expenditures of about another $100 million.
The AAFC research branch has been engaged in a variety of collaborations over the years. We have staff who are embedded in university faculties. We have research centres that are located at the university campus. We have staff and facilities that are shared with other governments, so we have provincial governments co-located in some locations across the country. And we've done all kinds of collaborations from casual, ongoing collaborations that were established between scientists, to structured programs, such as the matching investment initiative. We still have that program, and it has been running for the last 12 years, where we've had over 3,000 projects.
In order to answer the challenge of the sector, AAFC held an extensive stakeholder consultation process in fall 2005, where we met with provinces, stakeholders, and other science providers. As a result of this, we developed our science and innovation strategy, which was released in May 2006, where we identified seven research priorities, which are basically these. We're working in the area of human health and wellness, in the area of enhancing quality of food and safety, and we're also working on the security and protection of the food supply. Other areas of research are enhancing economic benefits for all stakeholders, environmental performance of the agriculture system, understanding and conserving Canadian bio-resources, which was one of the elements you saw in Saskatoon, and also developing new opportunities.
So we have priority-based objectives.
We have to ensure that the science we do meets the criteria for excellence and also aligns with department priorities. So all of our research proposals are screened in two ways: first, scientifically, with an external panel of specialists who tell us the science is excellent; and we also have another management review within the department to make sure it fits with the priority of the department and the government as a whole.
In the area of collaborations, we've been working and developing new ways of doing collaborations. Last year we announced the agriculture and bio-products innovation program, a new program we issued for $145 million that is competitive and peer-reviewed, and it's targeting agricultural bio-products. It's available for industry, universities, and other government departments, including ours.
Given the need for cross-organizational interactions, promoting a strong culture of collaboration both within the Canada and with other countries is a must. So, the message I want to leave with you today is that, given the significant challenges we are facing, increased engagement of the Canadian private sector will be important for us, as part of a framework of renewal and collaboration, so that we can accomplish this with the private and public sectors at the same time.
Thank you.