PROVINCE UNVEILS $37.3 MILLION MEAT PROCESSING PACKAGE

The Government of Saskatchewan announced a new multi-million dollar package to drive development of the meat processing sector in the province today.

Premier Lorne Calvert said the three-year, $37.3 million package of incentives and investment is designed to grow the entire industry from the ground up.

"We announced a six point plan earlier this year that will enable our industry to process more of the livestock we produce," Calvert said. "Meat processing has the potential to create new jobs and wealth through our entire economy. This new package will help capture those opportunities through strong, competitive programs and infrastructure that build on what we already have in Saskatchewan and attract new investment from beyond our borders."

The province will invest approximately $1.2 million in the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre in Saskatoon to encourage increased development of new products for test or niche markets, $3.3 million to establish toll processing capacity in the province (custom processing for new or expanding firms) and $32.8 million in a new Meat Processing Investment Rebate program.

"We want to provide an environment that encourages more investment in agriculture and specifically, in Saskatchewan's meat processing industry," Agriculture and Food Minister Mark Wartman said. "Our livestock production levels exceeded the province's processing capacity even before the borders closed to live beef exports two years ago. We now have 29 per cent of Canada's cow herd and only six per cent of the nation's processing capacity. The situation is much the same in hogs, but on a different scale. We have more than doubled production in the past eight years, to 2.3 million hogs, but we continue to process at the same levels we always have.

The new investment in agriculture will secure Saskatchewan's position as a world-class producer and take us a to new level as a world-class processor," Wartman concluded.

Full details on the province's new 15 per cent Meat Processing Investment Rebate and Toll Processing Initiative will be announced in the days ahead.

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For More Information, Contact:

Scott Brown Agriculture and Food Regina Phone: (306)787-4031 Cell: (306)536-3851