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A deal to invest $6 million in Northwest Territories agriculture over five years has been struck between the federal and territorial governments.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and GNWT Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment David Ramsay sign a new bilateral agreement between the federal and territorial government to invest $6 million in NWT agriculture over five years. - photo courtesy Government of Yukon

The bilateral agreement, announced last week by the Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, will provide up to $1.2 million per year for the territory's agriculture sector starting in April 2013, representing a funding increase of $500,000 per year over current cost-sharing agriculture sector spending in the NWT.

The funding boost is expected to take the NWT agriculture sector -- which includes greenhouses and community vegetable gardens -- from the crawling stage to the the running stage, said John Colford, director of investment and economic analysis for the department.

Food programs in the NWT have expanded from about a half-dozen communities in 2006 to almost every community in the territory today, Colford said, with tomatoes, onions, and other vegetables and root crops being grown by volunteers up and down the Mackenzie River. The largest pool of producers is in the South Slave region.

Some of the big producers in the NWT include the Inuvik Greenhouse, Greenwood Gardens, Produce North and Arctic Farmer.

Upwards of 1,500 people have benefited from the territory's current Growing Forward funding, Colford said, adding small-scale food programs will see substantial expansion with the signing of the new agreement.

"Agriculture in the NWT has witnessed tremendous growth in interest and participation over the past number of years," stated Ramsay following meetings earlier this month in Whitehorse with other ministers of agriculture where the funding agreements were struck.

"Almost all of our communities have seen the benefit of agriculture development and have expressed keen interest in seeing it continue.

"Increasing the supply of locally produced food, diversifying the food basket and lowering the cost of food for families are priorities for the NWT. This new agreement will go a long way toward helping us address these needs."

The current Growing Forward cost sharing agreement with the federal government for NWT agriculture was signed in July 2009, and covers small-scale food programs such as community garden programs with training, and equipment, in addition to Northern agri-food initiatives which aim to assist producers with land-based initiatives to increase yields and efficiencies.

Growing Forward also includes commercial and traditional harvesting initiatives for plants, berries, caribou, muskox, and other wild species.

The new agreement, called Growing Forward 2, is expected to be finalized by March 31.

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