LAKELAND - The province will be starting conversations with local agricultural societies about the next funding agreement soon after announcing $7.4 million in funding for seven regional ag societies on April 24.
The funding model for the regional societies has been in place for more than 20 years and is being updated following a sustainability audit by Deloitte last year.
The seven regional agricultural societies are located in Lloydminster, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Camrose, and Olds.
Under the current agreement, they each receive $398,853 annually.
The new funding is a one-time cash injection which includes $4.03 million “to help manage current cost pressures so they can plan for tomorrow,” said RJ Sigurdson, the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.
“It also includes nearly $2.9 million to support projects that will help these organizations move toward more sustainable operating models. To help with these efforts, Agriculture and Irrigation will hire a contractor to help with business transformation efforts,” said Sigurdson.
According to Jay Cory, president of the Cold Lake Ag Society, the smaller societies are facing the same inflationary pressures as the regional ones receiving the new funding, but because of their size are even more limited in their ability to raise additional funds to meet that challenge.
“When we do our events like our Bull-a-rama, we’re able to cover our costs but we haven’t been able to make any money, so it’s hard to do the upkeep on the building,” said Cory.
He said because of inflation, many of their costs have nearly doubled, but the core funding received from the province has not kept pace.
“We look forward to now engaging with our primaries and having discussions with them, taking a look at the challenges that they're facing as well, and looking at strategies to make sure that they're here for the next generation,” said Sigurdson.
