A windfall in provincial funding will support the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station while seeds are sowed toward a long-term solution.
On Monday, Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro announced $200,000 that will keep the local station afloat through April of 2017. That value equates to TBARS' entire 2015-2016 budget.
The Ministry of Agriculture has also committed up to another $150,000 for the following fiscal year, with stipulations the station could raise part of that amount to unlock matching funds.
In the meantime, Mauro is optimistic new partnerships will solidify that will provide sustainable, long-term funding.
“On the second year, we’re still hopeful. We’re still working on the second component, which is a longer-term, more sustainable solution for (the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Association) and for the research station. I see this as a bridge allowing us a bit more time to achieve that goal,” Mauro said.
“The partner we’re working with is supportive and interested. There are no guarantees but it looks like it has a chance to occur.”
Association president Kevin Belluz welcomed the announcement as a short to medium-term solution but with a new
“We’re not interested in perpetuating this unnecessarily, year-to-year,” he said.
“We just had the sustainability study done last year. This year is the year we plan to make those changes to see if we can find solid footing of our own -- and there are other options.”
Those other options have yet to take shape but Belluz suggested academic institutions could play some role in further research and product development.
