Province formalizes five-year plan to strengthen connection to European food chain

The Government of Manitoba has formalized a five-year strategic framework to strengthen agricultural and agri-food innovation with Europe.

The framework is between Manitoba Agriculture and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Food, Europe’s largest food innovation community with more than 200 partners dedicated to accelerating innovation and business creation in the food sector.

EIT Food uses the Horizon Europe funding program, with a $151.9-billion budget for 2021 to 2027, to enable and advance innovation and entrepreneurship across the food value chain in Europe and internationally.

The agreement brings together EIT Food’s European agri-food innovation sector and international network with Manitoba’s strengths in agri-food production, value-added processing, applied research, and industry-academia partnerships.

Through this framework, EIT Food and Manitoba Agriculture will explore opportunities for joint research and innovation, knowledge exchange, startup development and international market access to support the growth and competitiveness of Manitoba’s agri-food sector.

The measure is part of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year $3.5 billion investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation and resiliency of Canada’s agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector. This includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and a $2.5 billion commitment that is cost-shared 60 percent federally and 40 percent provincially/territorially for programs that are designed and delivered by provinces and territories.