A tribute to Agriculture in Manitoba

Tuesday March 19 I spoke in the Manitoba Legislature in support of our farmers and others involved in agriculture and food production, distribution and retail in Manitoba on Agricultural Awareness Day.

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, agriculture is at the core of who we are as Manitobans.

All of us have to eat. All of us benefit from the nutritious food produced by farmers. Many of us benefit from the jobs and opportunities which result from us having a strong agricultural industry, a strong food-processing industry and a strong retail and restaurant sector.

Agricultural Awareness Day is a day to pay attention to agriculture. I thank our presenters today–Robyn, Steven and Curtis–who gave us an update on the importance of protein in the food produced on our farms and of new developments in the canola and poultry industries.

Agricultural Awareness Day is an opportunity to connect with individuals in agriculture from all over our province.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the budding chefs from Assiniboine Community College–Klarisa Baer and Beth Butterfield–and the budding chefs from Red River College–Peter Matkowski and Anna Borys. Your creative delicacies were amazing.

I had a good discussion with farmers on the canola market given recent developments in relation to China. I gather canola prices have firmed up and the farmers I talked with are optimistic. I had a good discussion with farmers about the carbon tax, which exempts purple gas. I understand that farmers will be looking through the federal budget today to see if any of their other issues are addressed.

Thank you to all the farmers and all those in varied other parts of the agricultural industry who are here today, your contributions to our province and to the health of Manitobans is significant.

Thank you, merci, miigwech.

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