Initiative to help Ontario producers with traceability

Ontario’s new minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Carol Mitchell, announced funding for a new federal-provincial program that will help poultry farmers improve biosecurity.

The program, which was announced on Jan. 28 and is called the Farm Biosecurity Program, also aims to boost food safety and traceability through the development of educational and training programs.

“These programs give producers and processors the tools they need to produce safe healthy food,” says Mitchell.

“They are part of our ongoing investments to encourage innovation, competitiveness and sustainability on Ontario farms and throughout the entire agri-food sector.”

What the program provides

The Farm Biosecurity Program will provide funding to individual poultry producers to help them implement or improve biosecurity measures that are based on the National Avian On-Farm Biosecurity Standard.

Strong biosecurity helps reduce the risk of disease, pests and pathogens.

In addition, the Food Safety and Traceability Education Program will help organizations develop and deliver educational and outreach programs to promote best practices to Ontario producers and processors.

Both programs are part of the Best Practices Suite of programs under Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.