New
ground broken for Alberta's Agrifood
entrepreneurs
By:
Resource
International News
Date:
10/09/2004
Web posted
at: 12:00 p.m. EDT
Winnipeg - Alberta's agri-food entrepreneurs
will have a step up on the international
competition, thanks to a food processing business
incubator being built by the Government of Alberta
and AVAC Ltd.
Ground was broken Wednesday to begin
construction of the Agrivalue Processing Business
Incubator, a facility that will provide processing
space, shared administrative services and
facilities, shared storage space, and mentoring to
developing businesses and new business ventures,
according to a release from the Alberta
government.
The C$21-million project - the first food
processing business incubator in the country - will
be built beside the Food Processing Development
Centre in Leduc and will be managed by Alberta
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development
(AAFRD).
Shirley McClellan, Alberta's Deputy Premier and
Minister of AAFRD, said the facility will
contribute to the market and product development
component of Alberta's six-point bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) recovery plan.
"This facility, along with the Food Processing
Development Centre, will give Alberta's emerging
entrepreneurs, including those developing uses for
meat from mature ruminants, the resources they need
to succeed in the market place by providing
dedicated production facilities, business-planning
guidance and access to industry expertise," she
said.
The success of the Food Processing Development
Centre's (FPDC) processing program has given rise
to the need for the Agrivalue Processing Business
Incubator. The new facility will allow FPDC staff
to concentrate on their mandate of new product and
process development, as clients who have a
developed product will be able to move to the
incubator to further grow theirbusiness and
markets.
The Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator is a
unique partnership between the Government of
Alberta and AVAC Ltd., a corporation created to
facilitate the linkage of knowledge and investment
with science and enterprise to help grow Alberta's
agrivalue industry.
Construction on the Agrivalue Processing
Business Incubator is expected to be completed in
October 2005.
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