The British Columbia and federal governments will put up $3.5 million to back an on-farm biosecurity program and to support traceability at the farm and processor levels.
B.C. Agriculture Minister Steve Thomson and Vancouver-area MP Andrew Saxton announced the funding Friday in Burnaby, including $2.04 million for the Enterprise Infrastructure Traceability (EIT) program and $1.5 million for the provincial ag ministry’s biosecurity program.
EIT is meant to help producers, food processors and “agri-food businesses” buy and install traceability infrastructure and systems to track products “from receiving to shipping.”
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The program, delivered through a B.C. Agriculture Council subsidiary, the B.C. Agriculture and Research Corp., consists of animal (product) identification, premises ID and movements recording.
“A strong traceability system will help Canadian producers strengthen their businesses and get the premium prices their top-quality products deserve,” Saxton said in the governments’ joint release.
The biosecurity program, to be delivered directly by the provincial agriculture and lands ministry, is to help producers improve on-farm biosecurity procedures, such as wearing “barn-specific” clothing and disinfecting farm equipment.
The B.C. Hog Marketing Commission, the province’s hog production and marketing regulatory body, already plans to use the program to put biosecurity standards in place on about 31 hog farms, the governments noted.
“B.C. is already a leader in biosecurity measures, and having these systems in place builds consumer confidence,” Thomson said in Friday’s release.
