July 27, 2017
The Northwest Territories’ (NWT) agriculture sector received great news on July 21 as the territorial government entered into a multi-lateral agriculture partnership. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership, (previous agreement called Growing Forward 2), will go into effect on April 1, 2018.
The announcement came as a result of the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers of Agriculture meeting. ITI Minister Schumann participated in the meeting to champion the importance of local food production in the NWT as it contributes to the economy and improves access to fresh, healthy foods for residents.
Under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the NWT has a budget of $1.21 million annually from 2018-2023 for agricultural initiatives in the territory. This budget is covered 40% by the GNWT and 60% by the Government of Canada.
Did you know: In the last 5 years, $6 million has been invested under the Growing Forward 2 Agreement to support and grow the NWT agriculture sector.
Here are just a few of the successful NWT initiatives made possible through Growing Forward 2:
- Developing northern commercial operators to expand their operations in our regions.
- Developing local agriculture through the use of greenhouses
- Providing various training opportunities across the NWT
- Supporting agriculture activities in each of our 33 communities so they get the opportunity to learn more about growing food locally.
- Funding to assist the Inuvik Greenhouse with a new roof to extend their growing season by 6-8 weeks
- Developed the Take a Kid Gardening Program
Click here to read the Federal-Provincial-Territorial news release.