CANADA – The Canadian government has unveiled plans to invest up to US$3 million in Fromagerie Bergeron Inc., a Quebec-based dairy processor as part of the Canadian Government’s Dairy Processing Investment Fund.
The fund is part of the government’s plan in support of the dairy processors’ investments to improve productivity and competitiveness based on Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
The government is planning to invest upto US$78 million in dairy processing companies between 2017 and 2021, allowing these firms to modernise their operations.
With the funding, Fromagerie Bergeron is in a position to make capital investment in equipment and infrastructure and have access to expertise to engage private sector technical, managerial, and business expertise.
According to Fromagerie Bergeron, the investment will allow it to install robotic equipment and further automate its production lines to increase production capacity.
The federal government’s funding was part of a planned US$20 m investment over four years for the expansion and modernization of their Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly plant.
“This contribution will allow us to support, in part, the modernization projects at Fromagerie Bergeron to deal with strong competition and to protect jobs and products here and across the country,” said Roger Bergeron, president of Fromagerie Bergeron.
Part of the funding will be used to automate production lines, keep it at a better competitive edge and enable new market opportunities.
Fromagerie Bergeron is a Quebec producer of fine cheeses specializing in in Gouda-style firm cheese like Louis Cyr, Fin Reynard and Calumet.
According to the Canadian Dairy Information Centre, Quebec is Canada’s largest cheese-producing province producing more than 234 million kilograms of cheese in 2017 and contributing more than US$7 billion to the country’s economy.
