WHEREAS the success of agriculture depends on an investment in infrastructure, education and expertise by the provincial government through their Ministry of Agriculture and British Columbia is spending a mere 3.3 of Gross Domestic Product for supporting the agricultural industry, while the average in Canada is 16.4: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the provincial government increase financial support for agriculture consistent with the national average.
Ministry of Agriculture British Columbia has an incredibly diverse agriculture industry and the type of support our industry needs cannot be compared to other provinces. Within our budget, the Ministry of Agriculture is committed to supporting Business Risk Management programs, animal and food safety and affecting positive policy change. Agriculture is shared jurisdiction between the Province and Federal Government. The Ministry of Agriculture has leveraged provincial resources against those of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The result is the FederalProvincial Growing Forward agreement which provides an additional 550 million to British Columbia agriculture over the five years of the agreement. The current Growing Forward agreement ends in March 2013. Negotiations for an additional five-year agreement are currently underway.