The Bifrost Agricultural Sustainability Initiative Cooperative chair says a recent investment of a million dollars from the federal and provincial governments is the start of something exciting. This week it was announced the two levels were investing in the cooperative, to allow them to research ways to tackle the challenges created by excess moisture in the region. Eric Fridfinnson says it's an issue that's faced farmers in the Bifrost area for several years, and this investment will create a real opportunity for them.

"We've seen a lot of money paid out of crop insurance and AgriStability, and that sort of thing. It just makes good sense to invest some money in infrastructure and technology development to reduce that risk. We're all going to be a lot better off. As producers, we'd much rather be making money off our crops than by collecting crop insurance."

He notes the recent investment is earmarked for design and planning to improve the local drainage system, investigate new crops that may be more viable in a high moisture environment, as well as researching production techniques. He notes seeing support from the provincial and federal governments is nothing new, noting both have been incredibly supportive of their work over the years. Fridfinnson says the local government's also been instrumental in their work, noting they're now looking at ways to further expand the work they're able to accomplish.

"This is the start of a much bigger program. The Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton has agreed to initiate a drainage fund of $4 million, that we're going to use to leverage money from senior levels of government. We're hoping to turn this into 12 million dollars in infrastructure improvements in this area."

Overall, Fridfinnson says they're pleased to see the support from all levels of government. He hopes to see their work yield positive results, noting it would have a great impact on the whole region.