The future ability of agriculture to continue to feed the world relies solely on scientific research which will help increase yields, fight diseases, fend off insect pests, and growing plants in places that they traditionally have not.
But, research only happens with an investment today, in order to reap the benefits at some point down the road. It is not necessarily an immediate return on investment, and not every path scientists take will lead to anything worthwhile, but they must still make the journey.
It is important that governments play a role in funding research on behalf of the populace. The future of food security is far too important to leave entirely to profit driven big business. It might sound a bit Orwellian to distrust big business, but it never hurts for public coffers to keep a hand in the game as a way to ensure public interests are considered at least on an equal footing with profit margins.
So it has to be seen as a positive when one reads in a release of investments such as the recent announcement federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Maire-Claude Bibeau and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit dedicated nearly $8.1 million in funding under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership for 28 livestock and forage-related research projects through Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund (ADF). This includes $4.9 million in funding for 27 livestock and forage-related research projects and $3.2 million in operational funding for the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence.
Producers too must play a role in funding research as they are the ones who benefit first from whatever is developed.
So, again it is a huge positive when one reads a story from the University of Saskatchewan that “with $2.35 million in funding from the federal government and the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC), University of Saskatchewan (USask) veterinary researcher Dr. Cheryl Waldner will undertake a major five-year research program to advance beef cattle health and productivity, helping to sustain the profitability and competitiveness of Canada’s $17-billion-a-year beef industry.”
Similarly, partnerships can achieve progress that individual investment may not.
So seeing 30 University of Saskatchewan (USask) crop research projects having been awarded a total of more than $8 million through Saskatchewan’s Agricultural Development Fund (ADF), a program jointly supported by the federal and provincial governments and supplemented by industry partners, again shows that agriculture research is generally on a positive path.
There will of course never be the funds to cover all the research scientists would like to undertake, but it still needs to be an area deemed as a good investment by producers and the public.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week
