WHEREAS the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) was created to resolve agricultural issues and to develop a viable agricultural industry and sustainable rural economy in the prairie provinces;AND WHEREAS PFRA has provided leadership in resolving Western agricultural problems through research, extension and delivery of federal programming to groups and individual agricultural producers;AND WHEREAS provincial agricultural departments have greatly reduced their extension staff thus increasing the demand on PFRA offices to provide grassroots services such as shelterbelt programs, water development and planning, soil conservation, production sustainability and other environmentally sustainable practices for the long-term benefit of agriculture and the rural community;AND WHEREAS PFRA has proven to be an asset in its present structure, and in the future it is essential to promote value adding and economic growth in our rural prairie communities by promoting diversity through innovative technology sharing and transfer;AND WHEREAS the federal government has budgeted $5 million to conduct a feasibility study to investigate the restructuring of PFRA to become a national organization;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties urge the federal government to ensure that any modification to the PFRA structure reflect no detrimental change to the prairie provinces such as reduction of staff, offices, programs and overall funding;AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that any change in structure should enhance the transfer of technology and programs by increasing funding for the prairie provinces, and that future PFRA programs continue to focus on diversity and value-added production in rural communities as opposed to only environmental sustainability.

Discussions are in the preliminary stages to reorganize the PFRA as the National Agri-Environmental Service (NAES). To date the PFRA is still intact.