The Product and Market Development Program is designed to expand domestic and international competitiveness by supporting small and medium-sized agricultural producers, agri-businesses and agri-processors to expand their product base or markets through:

• Value-added and agri-food processing projects; 

• Market development activities on PEI; and

• Market development activities through intra-jurisdictional projects. 

Special consideration will be given to projects which include knowledge adoption, and clean technologies that will upscale innovation. This program will assist the individual needs of small and medium-sized sized enterprises, rather than serve to implement broad strategic initiatives

The program aims to create an enabling environment for the development and adoption of clean technology that will help drive the changes required to achieve a low-carbon economy and promote sustainable growth in Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector.

The new Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund, announced in Budget 2023, will provide Canadian dairy processors with non-repayable contributions to help the dairy sector better manage the structural surplus of solids non-fat in Canada. This Fund will be delivered by the Canadian Dairy Commission on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Program objective:

The program provides repayable contributions to incent targeted commercialization, demonstration and/or adoption of commercial-ready innovative technologies and processes that increase agricultural and agri-food sector competitiveness and sustainability benefits.

The Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF) supports projects that strengthen community food security and increase the availability and accessibility of local, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food through food production-focused activities for equity-deserving groups, particularly Indigenous and Black communities.

The objective of the Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken is to deliver on the Government of Canada’s commitment to provide full and fair compensation to supply-managed sectors for market access concessions made under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The program will help increase domestic demand and consumption of Canadian turkey and chicken products through industry-led promotional activities that differentiate Canadian products and producers, and leverage Canada’s reputation for high quality and safe food.

The CAAIN Smart Farm Network Competition intends to:

• Provide Canadian agricultural producers and innovators an unbiased assessment of how agtech innovations can benefit their farms

• Provide a platform for smart farms or smart farm networks to evaluate emerging agricultural technologies under commercial conditions

• Promote the adoption of new agricultural technologies that will benefit the competitiveness and profitability of the Canadian agricultural sector.

• Foster mutually beneficial collaborations between Canadian smart farms through sharing of best practices and leveraging of complementary knowledge and expertise

• Foster collaboration between organizations in Canada’s agtech community

• Support the growth of new companies, scale up efforts, and talent creation in Canada

• Create experiential learning opportunities in building the skilled agtech workforce

• Build a repository of research and evaluation data that can be anonymized and shared among smart farms and, possibly, the broader research community

As part of this competition, CAAIN will support the smart farm’s or smart farm network’s evaluation of specific technologies of the network’s choosing. Evaluations must consider the scientific, technical, economic, environmental, and social benefits of the emerging agricultural technologies within a Canadian perspective.

The Emergency Processing Fund (EPF) is a one-time, federal investment of up to $77.5 million to help companies implement changes to safeguard the health and safety of workers and their families due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund also aims to aid companies to invest to improve, automate and modernize facilities needed to increase Canada’s food supply capacity. The fund is one part of the greater Government of Canada response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EPF will provide up to $5 million per recipient in non-repayable funding for emergency COVID response activities and/or repayable funding for strategic investments.

The Provincial Agrifoods Assistance Program supports current farmers and new entrants to the province’s agriculture and agrifoods sectors. The program has two streams, focusing on land development and agriculture infrastructure. Funding priority is given to projects that enhance food self-sufficiency, increase agricultural growth or increase secondary processing of food products.

Eligible applicants must have reported a minimum of $15,000 in eligible agriculture sales in one of the last three years or qualify as a new entrant. To encourage and support new farmers in the industry, new entrants can qualify for up to $20,000 in funding under the Agriculture Infrastructure program.

The Green Transition Fund provides financial support to businesses, organizations, post-secondary institutions, and industry associations to assist with the province’s transition to a green economy. The program will de-risk commercial and non-commercial activities that facilitate collaboration, investment, and industry growth required for the transition.

The Green Transition Fund targets the greening of commercial operations in traditional sectors and development of new opportunities related to the growth of a green economy. The program supports research and development projects related to green transition and green economy supply chain improvement. The program includes streams for projects led by Indigenous and rural proponents that are focused on a green economic transition.

The Climate Change Challenge Fund (CCCF) is a competitive, application-based grant program designed to support projects that result in material greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions in Newfoundland and Labrador, to be implemented over four fiscal years (2024-2025 to 2027-2028). The CCCF is funded by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and is delivered by the Department of Environment and Climate Change (“the Department”). The objectives of the CCCF are to:
• Cost-effectively reduce GHG emissions that contribute to climate change.
• Improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs through reduced GHG emission sources.
• Promote growth and job creation.

The On-Farm Technology Adoption Program is to enable producers to invest in advanced technology on their farm that will provide labour efficiencies, reduce cost of production, increase yields, and support more efficient use of inputs. Advanced Technology is defined as: a technology that is still immature but promises to deliver significant value, or that has some technical maturity but also may have relatively few users.

The objective of the Value-Adding Equipment Program is to support value-added businesses and increase local food production by assisting in the sustainability of farms and communities and improving food security in Nova Scotia. Value-added means the modification of a Nova Scotia agricultural product through the addition of ingredients or processes into a higher value food, beverage or agri-product including the creation of new value from agricultural waste products, by-products, or co-products.

The objective of the Get Growing Program is to support growth of small farms (those with annual gross commodity sales currently less than $30,000) through the adoption of specialized infrastructure or equipment. Projects should help the expansion of local agricultural production for local markets.

The Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change Program will support the Agricultural sector to reduce environmental risk and enhance environmental benefits, as well as reduce GHG emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. This program will support primary producers to accelerate the adoption of priority Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) subject to completion of an Environmental Farm Plan (EFP).

The Apiculture Sustainability Growth and Health Program promotes hive health, pollination expansion and adoption of efficient technologies that help with labour shortages.

The Agriculture Beneficial Management Practices (BMP) Program is now available to help farmers in Nova Scotia unlock the benefits of sustainable and energy-efficient practices. The program is designed to support a wide range of eligible measures that align with Efficiency Nova Scotia’s Business Energy Rebates and Custom Energy Retrofits programs, as well as additional incentives for specific projects.Program benefits include:

• Improved cost effectiveness while introducing energy efficient updates across operations.

• Access to funding to start and complete new projects.

• Receive ongoing support from Efficiency Nova Scotia Energy Managers.

The Wild Blueberry and Apple Harvest Efficiency Program supports the modernization of wild blueberry and apple harvesting equipment for growers to reduce labour requirements, increase productivity and improve profitability.

The On-farm Electrical Preparedness Program helps farms buy a backup generator and battery storage to support business continuity and preparedness for adverse weather.

Open to businesses in Nova Scotia interested in reducing the effects of climate change by investing in innovative and efficient new practices.