Last week's Provincial budget contained some positive news for the agriculture sector.
Livingstone Macleod MLA Roger Reid says a lot of the budget deals with increasing trade and getting more products to market in Canada and abroad.
"We're looking at the issues with lack of pork in China and we're actually looking at a proposal that would see us export a million hogs out of Alberta in the near future to help meet that demand," Reid says. "So we've got got some tremendous opportunities."
He says efforts to increase job creation in the agri-food processing industries could help out in the riding as well.
"We've seen tremendous growth in terms of processing of agri-foods and so again I think there's great opportunities for us to continue seeing more outside investment in southern Alberta, like the Cavendish plant in Lethbridge, and be very intentional in how we can take these great products that are grown right here in Alberta and take them to the next step and create good long term well paying jobs for our folks in Livingstone Macleod." he says.
Food and beverage processing provided jobs to more than 26,000 Albertans in 2018, making it the province’s largest manufacturing employer.
A Blueprint for Jobs seeks to attract $1.4 billion in investment to grow agriculture and food exports over the next four years. This will create 2,000 jobs and grow the sector by eight per cent per year.
Finance Minister Travis Toews says the government is getting out of the way of picking winners and losers in the economy to make it easier for private investors to get involved.
Click here to see more...