Prince George, B.C. - The Northern Development Initiatives Trust , the City of Prince George and the Agricultural Land Commission will soon meet to develop a memorandum of understanding.

 

The MOU will clarify the roles and responsibilities for all parties and identify the full intent of the new Prince George Airport Lands Agriculture Development Fund.

 

The fund was one of several conditions for the removal of the land from the agriculture land reserve for the development of  a logistics park  adjacent to the P.G. Airport. Under the decision of the Agriculture Land Commission, $5,000 per acre will be put into the fund when the land has been rezoned subdivided and serviced. It will mean more than $8 million dollars will be put into the fund.

 

Northern Development Initiatives Trust CEO Janine North expects the dollars will be available for projects that enhance the agricultural industry. “Recently the Northern Trust provided funding for a mobile poultry processing facility, and a loan guarantee for a co-op abattoir, so I would imagine those kinds of applications could be the kind of projects that would be supported through this new fund.”

 

North doesn’t think the funds will be tied directly to Prince George “For example, I could see the funds being used to develop some sort of processing facility that will help export globally the agricultural products from the Peace or the Northwest.”

 

The Northern Trust will be responsible for administering the funds and the decisions on who gets what will be made by the Northern Development Initiatives Trust Board.   Details still have to be worked out on how groups can apply for funds or if the Trust will require applicants to use the dollars to leverage further funding.