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November 27, 1997
(COOPERATION Agreement)


Ex-fishers to pursue goat farming on the Bonavista Peninsula

Cabot Resources Inc; a not-for profit community-based development corporation on the Bonavista Peninsula, has been awarded $60,000 to provide professional management expertise to a group of ex-fisherpersons in their efforts to establish a commercial goat farming industry.

The support for this initiative was announced today by Fred Mifflin, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), and Beaton Tulk, Minister of Development and Rural Renewal.

"This initiative will introduce a whole new industry to the Bonavista Peninsula," said Minister Mifflin. "The efforts by Cabot Resources Inc. to diversify the economy of the Bonavista Peninsula are to be commended. This initiative has an immediate employment benefit for eight individual farms, as well as potential in the long term for economic benefit for a greater number of farmers in the area."

Cabot Resources Inc. will provide specialized services for the new goat farming community in business planning, technical support, marketing and administration. Through the establishment of these new farms, the equivalent of nine full-time positions will be created. Heifer Project International, a U.S. based farm aid organization, has committed to supply the farmers with 10 seed stock goats each to assist in the initial stages of development.

"This project represents something new, something different and something we need more of in order to increase the options for employment for rural residents of the province," said Minister Tulk. "This project is becoming a reality through a collaborative partnership among federal and provincial government agencies, a community-based development organization, local entrepreneurs, and an international development agency. This is truly a diverse partnership that holds promise for the Bonavista Peninsula."

The operation of the goat dairy industry is a three-way partnership of individual farmers, the dairy processor and a farmers' cooperative set up by Cabot Resources Inc. The farmers will sell their milk to the cooperative who in turn will pay the processor a processing fee. The cooperative will sell the finished product initially in the Bonavista and Avalon Peninsula regions.

The Strategic Regional Diversification Agreement is a 70:30 cost-shared agreement between the federal and provincial governments respectively. The agreement is administered federally by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and provincially by the Department of Development and Rural Renewal.

Contact:

Paul Murphy, Cooperation Communications ,(709) 772-0219, Clifford Grinling, Development and Rural Renewal, (709) 729-7066.

 

1997 11 27 2:25 p.m.

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