The funding was announced Oct. 15 by Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid, on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Lawrence MacAulay, at the industry group’s pasta lab in Winnipeg.

“Our government is building on our long legacy of support for Cereals Canada,” said Duguid.

The funding falls under two programs within the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP).

The larger of the two accounts for $6,660,817 over three years and comes via the AgriMarketing Program. That program aims to increase market access, improve customer support and expand exports through initiatives like technical exchanges, market research and knowledge sharing among stakeholders.

Duguid said that funding will help further open international markets to Canadian agricultural products. He pointed to the opening of a trade office in Manila in the Philippines earlier this year.

“The funding will help exporters leverage new digital tools, navigate market access barriers and meet the needs of our customers around the world,” he said.

The remaining $674,249 is funded through the AAFC AgriScience Program—Projects Component. That funding is focused on research into how environmental conditions impact cereal crop quality during the growing season.

One program set to benefit from those funds is a four-year research initiative looking at how environmental conditions affect oat quality.

“Our oat research aims to enhance our understanding of Canadian oat quality and how it performs as an ingredient,” said Dean Dias, chief executive officer of Cereals Canada. “This information will strengthen Canada’s position in the global market, potentially increasing the value and demand for Canadian oats as a premium food ingredient and supporting our value chain.”

Dias welcomed the support from the federal government.

“This funding enables us to amplify our resources, maintain and grow markets and foster industry relationships and advocacy, helping to ensure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of Canada’s cereals industry,” he said.

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Over four years, the agricultural biotechnology developer will receive $2,325,361 to develop a high-yielding, climate change-resistant soybean and enable field testing.

“Soybean farming is a cornerstone of agriculture here in Canada,” said Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, in a media release. “This funding is vitally important to helping our hardworking farmers tackle extreme weather and keep growing the top-quality crops Canada is known for.”

Mark Gerretsen, MP for Kingston and the Islands, announced the AgriScience Program—Projects Component funding, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, on July 31 at PPI’s Kingston facility.

Why it matters: Soybeans generate $14 billion in annual economic output and are Canada’s third largest field crop.

Dr. Yafan Huang, PPI CEO, stated genetic seed research and development assists producers and the soy industry by enhancing resilience and yield, leading to increased acreage and withstand frequent extreme weather events while reducing its environmental footprint.

“We are grateful to have AAFC’s further support through its AgriScience Program to complete the development of climate-resilient, high-yielding soybeans with enhanced carbon sequestration,” said Huang in the statement. “Successful introduction of Performance Plants’ validated technologies to this crop will help to secure and grow this important Canadian industry amid increasingly challenging climate conditions.”

PPI’s objective is to create soybean varieties with increased heat and drought tolerance, herbicide resistance, water efficiency and the ability to sequester carbon into the soil through soybean trait and genome development.

“Supporting innovation is key to our farmers’ future,” said Gerretsen in the release.

PPI received over $2 million in funding under the previous framework, the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, to develop technologies that achieve higher and more consistent crop yields via improved heat tolerance, drought tolerance and reduced water requirements.

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“Canadian beef has earned a top spot on the world stage because of the commitment to quality and sustainability that our producers hold themselves to,” said agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay in a news release today.

Canada Beef and the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) are receiving up to $5,865,110 and $453,364 respectively for marketing activities such as advertising, trade missions, technical training and educational seminars.

“By continuing to promote Canadian beef in key foreign markets, we can make the sector more competitive, put more money in the pockets of producers and drive demand for our world-class Canadian beef,” MacAulay said.

Expanding and opening new markets requires proactive relationship-building, said Canadian Cattle Association president Nathan Phinney in the release.

“These local, national and international relationships open doors to trade and collaboration and the AgriMarketing program support will help to ensure Canadian beef producers are represented at these global tables.”

“This funding will support initiatives that increase awareness of the value proposition of Canadian beef and veal exports in international markets vital to the success of Canada’s beef industry,” said Eric Bienvenue, president of Canada Beef.

The funding comes via the AgriMarketing Program, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP). The initiative is intended to increase and diversify exports to international markets and seize domestic market opportunities.

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“With increasing demand for local organic products from folks here in Canada and around the world, I have no doubt this investment will have a positive impact right across the value chain,” federal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay said in a Thursday news release.

MacAulay pledged up to nearly $$1,175,841 for the Canadian Organic Trade Association (COTA) over three years via the AgriMarketing program and up to $985,985 over three years to the Prairie Organic Development Fund via the AgriCompetativeness program.

This renews federal funding COTA has received since 2012, executive director Tia Loftsgard said in an email.

“This support has been instrumental in advancing our mission at the Canada Organic Trade Association, enabling us to expand our reach, enhance our marketing strategies, and ultimately strengthen the organic sector in Canada,” she said in the federal news release.

Loftsgard said COTA had requested $5 million over three years but received the same amount as their 2021 grant.

The funding mostly flows to member organizations, she added. The rest goes to funding events, webinars and trade shows, producing organic sector data reports, funding organic advocacy work, and other projects.

The Prairie Organic Development Fund (PODF) is “an investment platform established to develop organic agriculture and marketing in the Canadian Prairies,” its website says.

The federal funding will “advance the organic sector in Canada by building evidence for organics through data aggregation and benchmarking, growing organic supply and leadership through education, tools, and skill-building, and strengthening public trust in Canadian organics,” the news release said.

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Ag-West Bio, a bioscience booster non-profit, will manage the Diverse Field Crop Cluster, a group of organizations representing small acreage crops, including camelina, carinata, flax, mustard and sunflower.

The funding is part of the AgriScience Program – Clusters Component, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

“The goal with DFCC is to give farmers viable alternatives to include in their rotations, which will
help create an agricultural ecosystem that is more profitable while also being more resilient to
climate change,” said Karen Churchill, President and CEO of Ag-West Bio in a news release. “By pooling resources, DFCC can advance these crops much faster.”

“There is no doubt that our farmers are among the first to feel the impacts of climate change,” said MacAulay in the release. “That’s exactly why we’re supporting this important research to increase the yield and profitability of diverse field crops and make the sector more resilient.”

Research will focus on further developing crop genetics for lower-quality land and resilience, benchmarking greenhouse gas emissions produced by the crops, and how emissions are affected by nitrogen fertilizer.

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