Non-profit groups or charities interested in providing safety training to farmers or agribusinesses can apply online starting next week for support through Farm Credit Canada.
FCC and the Canadian Agriculture Safety Association (CASA) recently launched a new FCC Ag Safety Fund, offering a total of $100,000 to provide support for safety training programs. The fund’s website is open to applications starting Sept. 13 (Monday).
“Producers have told us that they value farm safety. They’re looking for strategies to keep themselves, their families and employees’ safe,” FCC executive vice-president Remi Lemoine said in a release.
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The fund is meant to help groups deliver ag safety training or “train-the-trainer” programs to producers in Canada focused on safe agricultural practices.
Funding will be awarded based on budgeted actual costs of a project or program. Applicants proposing programs or projects with a local or provincial scope may be awarded up to $10,000, while those proposing programs or projects with a national scope could receive up to a maximum $25,000.
The application deadline for eligible organizations is Oct. 27 this year, FCC said, and successful applicants will be notified in early 2011.
Chosen organizations must meet the funding criteria before the implementation of their programs — and the programs themselves must be completed by December 2012, FCC said.
Eligible applicants must be either a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency; a registered non-profit organization; an unregistered non-profit organization that would partner with a municipal, territorial or provincial government who agrees to receive the money contributed; or an educational institution other than a private school.
Eligible projects must be located in Canada and be beneficial to those who live and work in Canada, and must either deliver or aid in the delivery of training in safe agricultural practices, or train those who will train others in safe agricultural practices.
Ineligible projects, FCC said, would include those set up to fundraise or pay off an organization’s debts; those by third parties raising funds on behalf of another charitable organization; those meant to be delivered to or available only to members of a particular religion, political party or social organization; those by any applicant whose main focus is “advocating a particular religion or social, moral, political or economic point of view;” or those whose delivery is “likely to significantly and adversely impact the environment.”
Applicants will also have to provide proof of project completion in a form acceptable to CASA and FCC.
