Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Journalist
On Tuesday evening the MRC Pontiac presented the latest version of its plan for developing the agricultural industry in the Pontiac at a public consultation meeting hosted at the new market building in Chapeau.
The plan is referred to as a PDZA, a planning model created by the province’s Ministry of Agriculture to be used to guide development of agricultural zones in the province.
On Tuesday, the MRC put forward six priority areas to focus its development efforts over the next five to 10 years, these based on information gathered from a series of public consultations done over the past year.
“[The consultations were] really trying to get a true on-the-ground assessment of what the needs are for agriculture in the Pontiac,” said Shanna Armstrong, the MRC’s economic development commissioner for agriculture.
The six priority areas that arose from these consultations are strengthening the region’s attractiveness for new farmers; making agricultural services such as veterinarians and agronomists easier to access for producers by way of a regional service hub; developing the Agrisaveur food transformation center along with the abattoir in Shawville; educating the public about the value of having a local agricultural industry and about what it looks like to pursue a career in agriculture; marketing local agricultural products to promote agritourism; and helping to connect producers with existing resources to help them transition towards more environmentally sustainable practices.
Armstrong said naming these priorities in an official plan enables the MRC to seek funding to implement its vision.
“It’s important to have [the plan] large enough that you can implement things that come up along the way, but also having them specific enough that they’re actually useful for producers that are trying to just farm and run their businesses successfully,” she added, and said feedback on Tuesday evening was overall positive, with some suggestions made as to more relevant timelines, or important partners to bring on board in certain projects.
“The goal was to capture everyone’s feedback to make sure these are really the projects that are truly going to help producers,” Armstrong said, noting Tuesday’s event was the final public forum in the development of the PDZA.
“The goal is that the final plan be presented to council at the end of this year, hopefully for adoption, and then we can start implementing, which is to me the exciting part.”