Slide 1

Where is Agriculture Important to Canadas Rural Economy? Presentation to seminar with Bioresource, Policy, Business and Economics University of Saskatchewan, February 17, 2012 {originally presented to Growing Canadas Rural Economies: Toward an economic renaissance in agri-food and other sectors Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, Winnipeg, February 28, 2008} Ray D. Bollman RayD.Bollman@sasktel.net 613-297-5826

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Where is Agriculture Important to Canadas Rural Economy? Outline Introduction What is rural? What is driving rural? What are the major sectors in rural? What is agriculture? How important is agriculture? Where is agriculture important? How important is agri-food processing? Where is agri-food processing important? Linkages between rural areas and households of operators of agricultural holdings Wrapping up...

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Where is Agriculture Important to Canadas Rural Economy?... The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), which is mandated to assist in policy development for the agri-food sector, wishes to undertake a project to identify policies that could enhance economic activity in rural Canada...... We wish to seek your assistance in devising a potential policy framework that could guide a rural renaissance...

Slide 4

Where is Agriculture Important to Canadas Rural Economy? Ever since my first experience with a rural development project {the ARDA-FRED rural development project in the Interlake area of Manitoba in the 1968 to 1978 period}, I have noticed very little conversation about using sectoral approaches to pursue rural development. The Interlake ARDA-FRED project was called integrated rural development. The idea was to invest in the best project(s) in the territorial unit rather than trying to pick the winning sector(s).