Ottawa/CMEDIA: A Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) has been negotiated by Federal‐provincial, territorial governments that will see Ontario’s upwards of $1.77 billion in support for the agri-food sector over the life of the agreement, a news release said.
This upcoming new, five-year agreement between the governments of Canada and Ontario will provide farmers and the province’s wider agri-food sector a range of investmen ts to enable the province to meet goals outlined in Ontario’s Grow Ontario Strategy by helping improve productivity, competitiveness and resilience in this key area of the economy
Sustainable CAP would be investing $569 million in strategic initiatives of, a 25 percent increase over the previous funding agreement. Farmers would also receive roughly $1.2 billion for continued, demand-driven, business risk management support.
Investments in research and innovation and other strategic areas to strengthen the sector would also be boosted by the Sustainable CAP and would include the launch of the new Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program (RALP), a funding initiative to mitigate climate change and support the agricultural sector in better addressing sustainability outcomes.
“This agreement will create new opportunities to make this world-class sector even stronger and position it to sustainably grow during and well beyond the term of this pact,” said Lisa Thompson, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Starting on April 1, 2023, the Sustainable CAP would replace the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership) and support the vision and priorities the federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers agreed to in 2021 in The Guelph Statement.
“Building on the leadership of industry, we can seize new opportunities that will allow farmers to contribute to food security here in Canada and around the world, all while growing their businesses,” said Marie-Claude Bibeau, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
A five-year (2023-2028), $3.5-billion investment by federal‐provincial and territorial governments, the Sustainable CAP includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and $2.5 billion in cost-shared programs and activities by federal, provincial and territorial governments.
Details about Sustainable CAP funding opportunities and programming will be posted online as they become available.
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