$1.77M to boost dairy industry research

Quebec City, QC – Novalait, a corporation owned by Quebec dairy producers and processors, is receiving $1.77 million in funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to carry out two innovative projects that it says will benefit the entire Canadian dairy industry.

Novalait says that $1.4 million of the money will be used to support its premium milk innovation project. The project will look at new ways of using milk components and by-products and will assess potential new market niches. This project will help the dairy industry better meeting consumer needs leading to increased milk consumption. The funding is being provided under AAFC’s Agri-Innovation program.

“It is well known that technology and innovation are the drivers of productivity, growth, and prosperity,” says Gilbert Rioux, Novalait’s president. “With the premium milk innovation project, the Canadian dairy sector will be better able to identify the technological and innovation needs in the value chain for milk components and respond to market demands in the future.”

Novalait will also receive $372,177 from the Conseil pour le dveloppement de l’agriculture du Qubec (CDAQ) and five other industry councils across Canada that receive funding under the Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) program. The funding will allow the company to move forward with a demonstration farm network it has been developing in 2002. The network promotes research on 100 pilot farms in Quebec, and the funding will help research leading to new best practices, knowledge and technologies in the industry. The project results will be made available to all dairy producers in Canada.