Officials continue to work on the next Agriculture Policy Framework, which is due to come into effect April 1, 2023.
Lindsay Freistadt is the Director of Strategic Policy Unit and Policy Branch with the Ministry of Agriculture.
She is also the Provincial/Territorial Co-Chair for the next Ag Policy Framework at the Federal-Provincial-Territorial level.
Freistadt says they are now into the second stage of negotiations.
"At this stage of the agreement, Provincial-Territorial collaboration is key to ensuring all regions are able to offer programs and services which meet the local needs of their industry. Since the agreement is between the federal government and all provinces and territories, it will establish the big picture in terms of what programming could look like over the next five years. How much funding will be available, how it will be shared between provinces. The Ministers are expected to sign the multilateral framework agreement at their next Annual Conference of Agriculture Ministers in Saskatoon in July of 2022."
She noted that there are now five priority areas as was outlined in the Guelph Statement which was agreed to last year.
"The new priority areas are as follows: Climate Change and Environment, Science, Research and Innovation, Market Development and Trade, Building Sector Competitiveness, Capacity and Growth, and Resiliency and Public Trust. These areas are well aligned with our growth plan goals for Saskatchewan's agriculture sector, and we did lead the provinces in a push to include competitiveness as a priority. We were very successful in that, as you can see, and we also led the charge for including public trust."
Freistadt updated producers last week during the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference.
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