Competitiveness of the food processing industry - Québec grants $5 million to promote agri-food innovation

QUÉBEC CITY, March 31, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - The Government of Québec has granted $5 million for creating and funding McGill University's precompetitive food processing research consortium.

Laurent Lessard, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Geoffrey Kelley, MNA for Jacques-Cartier and Minister responsible for Native Affairs, pointed out that this support for the precompetitive food processing research consortium is a concrete initiative aimed at stimulating the growth of Québec's food processing industry.

Quotations

"The organization we are creating today is resolutely forward-looking. The outcomes of the work by the consortium will yield substantial benefits for future strengthening and development of the food sector across Québec. Our businesses will have greater support for their innovation projects and will be better able to meet increasingly diversified consumer needs."

Laurent Lessard, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

"Through the consortium, McGill University's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will put its world-renowned expertise to work in the service of Québec's food processing companies. Macdonald Campus is a major institution in the electoral division of Jacques-Cartier. I am happy to be part of this announcement that will have sizable benefits in terms of helping processing companies stand out more clearly and become leaders in the field."

Geoffrey Kelley, MNA for Jacques-Cartier and Minister responsible for Native Affairs

Highlights

• Total assistance is $5 million and will be issued in five equal $1 million payments from now to 2021.
  
  
• By helping to stimulate the development of the agri-food sector, the consortium meshes with the Department's policy directions.
  
  
• The aim of the consortium is to boost food processing companies' ability to compete by stepping up their research, development and technological innovation efforts. In so doing, it will promote partnerships with the Conseil de la transformation alimentaire du Québec, businesses and the research community.
  
  
• This investment will make it possible to support precompetitive food processing research projects and innovation-related support activities while facilitating the recruitment of qualified personnel.
  
  
• Pooling of the know-how and expertise of interested businesses and research, development and knowledge-transfer institutions will leverage the sector's capacity to innovate.

Link

www.mcgill.ca/macdonald
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SOURCE Cabinet du ministre de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation

Mathieu Gaudreault, Press Attaché, Office of the Minister of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport Electrification and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Phone: [phone]; Mylène Gaudreau, Press Attaché, Office of the Minister responsible for Native Affairs, Phone: [phone]