Three meat processing plants in Huron-Bruce will receive a total of up to $268,403 to improve efficiency and safety measures. The money is part of the provincial and federal governments’ investment of more than $7 million to quickly increase production and efficiency in meat processing plants across the province.
Through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, 77 projects are receiving cost-share funding to purchase or upgrade equipment that will improve productions and safety measures in free-standing meat plants and abattoirs in Ontario. The program was focused on measures that could quickly increase processing capacity as the industry dealt with a shortage of processing capacity, partly related to COVID slowdowns.
“This is welcomed news to both these three plants and local beef, pork, and poultry producers,” said Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson. “I have personally heard of back logs at plants across the province and that creates added strain and costs right back to the farmer.”This funding is part of both governments’ investments to assist Ontario’s agri-food sector in meeting challenges related to COVID-19. Local plants receiving the grants are:
Bachert Meats Inc. Walton, up to $43,194
Metzger Meat Products Inc., Hensall, up to $75,209
Hayter’s Turkey Products Inc., Dashwood, up to $150,000
“COVID made it more difficult for our farmers to find the processing capacity that they needed and these investments are part of our rapid response to help both our farmers and our processing industry to succeed in these challenging times,” said Ernie Hardeman, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “This announcement is the latest step our government is taking to support the sector to improve productivity and food safety to help keep Ontario’s food supply system strong.”
Since June 2018, both the federal and provincial governments have committed cost-share support to approximately 4,400 projects through the Partnership to help eligible Ontario farmers, processors, businesses and sector organizations innovate and grow.
- Due to high demand, an additional $3.2 million was added to this program from the original $4 million allocation to fund all eligible applications received.
- The Partnership is a five-year, $3-billion commitment by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments that supports Canada’s agri-food and agri-products sectors.
- There are 480 provincially licensed and 230 federally licensed facilities (abattoirs and free-standing meat plants) in Ontario.
- The Ontario agri-food sector supports more than 860,000 jobs in Ontario and contributes more than $47.3 billion each year to the province’s economy.
