Agriculture Grants Ontario: 107 Grants, Loans & More for Agricultural Business

The Winery Agri-Tourism Economic Relief Grant will help eligible Ontario wineries and cideries continue to grow their operations, create new jobs, and attract more visitors to rural Ontario.

The Wine Sector Support Program (WSSP) provides short-term financial support to licensed Canadian wineries as they adapt to ongoing and emerging challenges that impact financial resilience and competitiveness of the wine industry.
The program will provide non-repayable grants to wine licensees in Canada based on their production of bulk wine fermented in Canada from domestic and/or imported primary agricultural products.

The Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) Wine Support Program supports Ontario wineries in increasing competitiveness and innovation while growing the sale of Ontario VQA wines at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). The Program provides grants to help wineries invest in growing their VQA wine business, including export and tourism development activities.

The Talent Development – Internship Program (TDI) provides support for recent undergraduate or Master’s graduates, to work on industry- driven projects related to the six CIT Critical Technology areas: 5G and advanced networks, AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Quantum, and Robotics, in any one of the four key sector areas: Advanced Manufacturing, Agri-Food, Construction, Mining. Companies can tap into world-class talent coming out of Ontario’s publicly funded post-secondary institutions and strengthen their capacity to develop new products, services and processes, while interns receive hands-on industry experience in areas such as software and hardware development, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.

This program supports Northern Ontario agriculture and food producers, businesses, collaborations, and communities to create new products, enhance productivity, and adopt clean technologies.

The Supply Management Processing Investment Fund (SMPIF) helps processors of supply-managed commodities adapt to market changes resulting from the implementation of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The program provides non-repayable contributions to support investments in dairy, poultry, and egg processing facilities that improve productivity and/or efficiency through the purchase of new automated equipment and technology.

The Southwestern Ontario Development Fund provides support for projects and investments to existing businesses, municipalities and not-for-profit organizations for economic development in southwestern Ontario. The objective of the program is to provide financial support and services to help growing companies in southwestern Ontario make investments to:
1. Grow their businesses
2. Improve productivity
3. Invest in innovation and skills development
4. Pursue new markets
5. Generate broad positive regional economic impact
6. Create new good, sustainable jobs

A project is a distinct undertaking, separate from ongoing operations, that will result in benefits to the organization such as business growth or access to new markets.

The Small Distillery Program provides eligible Ontario distilleries with financial support to help grow their operations. Payments are based on production of spirits.

The Small Cidery Component of the Ontario Small Cidery and Small Distillery Program (the
Program) supports Small Cideries’ growth and competitiveness, and helps them scale up
into medium and large businesses. The Ontario government is striving to create an
environment where agri-food business can thrive and prosper. The Program will provide
grants to help eligible cideries invest in growing their businesses and create jobs. The
Program will be delivered by Agricorp, an agency of the Ontario government.

As part of the broader Critical Industrial Technologies initiative, the Sector Adoption (SA) Program is a challenge based multi-partner program that drives significant impact and advancement of a whole sector.

The Save on Energy Retrofit program offers businesses in Ontario incentives to upgrade equipment, reduce energy bills, lower their carbon footprint and increase productivity. The incentives are designed to help businesses speed up their payback on energy-efficiency equipment upgrades. The program offers incentives in two streams:
– Custom stream for larger, more complex retrofit projects to capture greater energy savings;
– Prescriptive stream for targeted retrofit projects focusing on commonly used products and technologies.

Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) helps producers manage risks beyond their control, like fluctuating costs and market prices. RMP for livestock was designed in consultation with representatives of the cattle, hog, sheep and veal industry in Ontario. RMP for livestock works like insurance to help Ontario producers offset losses caused by fluctuating commodity prices and production costs. Participants pay premiums based on their insured production and their chosen coverage level.

Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) helps producers manage risks beyond their control, like fluctuating costs and market prices. RMP for livestock was designed in consultation with representatives of the cattle, hog, sheep and veal industry in Ontario. RMP for livestock works like insurance to help Ontario producers offset losses caused by fluctuating commodity prices and production costs. Participants pay premiums based on their insured production and their chosen coverage level.

Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) helps producers manage risks beyond their control, like fluctuating costs and market prices. RMP for livestock was designed in consultation with representatives of the cattle, hog, sheep and veal industry in Ontario. RMP for livestock works like insurance to help Ontario producers offset losses caused by fluctuating commodity prices and production costs. Participants pay premiums based on their insured production and their chosen coverage level.

RMP: Grains and Oilseeds helps Ontario producers offset losses caused by low commodity prices and rising production costs. Payments are made if a crop’s market prices fall below the annual support level. The support level is based on the industry average cost of producing a crop (target price), which is calculated annually by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

This plan was designed in consultation with representatives of the grain and oilseed sector and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) helps producers manage risks beyond their control, like fluctuating costs and market prices. Under the RMP plan for edible horticulture, producers deposit funds into self-directed risk management (SDRM) accounts and the deposit is matched by the government to help mitigate risk associated with farm business.

Agricorp sends personalized participation forms to eligible producers in September.

Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) helps producers manage risks beyond their control, like fluctuating costs and market prices. RMP for livestock was designed in consultation with representatives of the cattle, hog, sheep and veal industry in Ontario. RMP for livestock works like insurance to help Ontario producers offset losses caused by fluctuating commodity prices and production costs. Participants pay premiums based on their insured production and their chosen coverage level.

The Promoting Agriculture and Food Careers Initiative provides funding to agricultural societies to promote careers in the agriculture and food industry.

The Price Pooling Program provides a price guarantee that protects marketing agencies and producers against unanticipated declines in the market price of their products. Program participants use the price guarantee as security in obtaining credit from lending institutions. This credit allows the marketing agency to improve cash flow of producers through an initial payment for products delivered. It also provides equal returns to producers for products of like grades, varieties and types.

The Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program (PEFIP) aims to help supply-managed poultry and egg producers adapt to market changes resulting from the implementation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The program supports on-farm investments in:
1. increasing efficiency or productivity,
2. improving on-farm food safety and biosecurity,
3. improving environmental sustainability,
4. responding to consumer preferences (improving animal welfare, adopting alternative housing systems, transitioning to organic production, etc.).

AgriStability is an important part of a comprehensive suite of risk management programs. AgriStability protects producers from large declines in their farming income caused by production loss, increased costs or market conditions.

Pilot and demonstration projects are undertaken after lab work or theoretical applied research on proof-of-concept has been completed. The goal of the pilot and demonstration stream is to fund projects that focus on the development of a model or prototype of new technology (complete TRL 6).

The pilot project is the step between applied research and full-scale commercial application. The latter allows researchers to assess if their findings are generalizable to the real world. These projects aim to complete TRL 6 (prototype development).

The knowledge translation and transfer (KTT) stream is focused on activities designed to drive the transformation of research knowledge into use faster, including:

synthesis
exchange
engagement
dissemination
dialogue
collaboration
brokering between researchers and research users
These projects go beyond typical communication activities and include an array of knowledge mobilizing activities.

Commercialization stream funding is focused on scaling innovative technologies, products and services to the real world or commercial environment. It ensures technologies and best practices are suitable for commercial use and ready to be widely used.

Applied research projects use the process of scientific investigation (including lab work and experiments) to find solutions to existing problems.

The Meat Processors Capacity Improvement Initiative seeks to enhance the capacity processing capabilities within the province’s meat processing plants and abattoirs.

The Initiative will provide funding to eligible free-standing meat plants and abattoirs so they can make short-term investments in meat handling and processing equipment, technologies and practices that improve operational efficiency and productivity.

The Matching Investment Fund (MIF) provides eligible companies and Food Technology Centers (FTC) non-repayable contributions for product development projects on a matching investment basis.

The Pre-production Funding Stream is part of the Market Growth Program (MGP). The MGP aims to stimulate investments for long-term market growth in Canadian dairy processing by supporting sustainable and innovative investment projects with an emphasis on the use of solids non-fat (SNF). Its intended outcome is to accelerate and support investments which aim to reduce structural SNF surplus, support market growth, or process milk in regions with significant skim milk surplus/processing deficiencies.

The Pre-production Funding Stream supports dairy processors to make investments in:

additional processing capacity for SNF; and
the creation of new products that add value to the SNF surplus.
Specifically, this stream supports the execution of studies during the planning stage of an investment, whether in a new plant or in an existing plant, including equipment replacement to increase processing capacity.

The Labour Force Management Strategies Initiative (the Initiative) helps primary producers and processors address local labour force challenges in the agri-food sector with pilot projects that implement:
– innovative attraction strategies
– recruitment strategies
– retention strategies

Through the IEI, our investment team looks to lend to Indigenous communities to provide them with access to capital to purchase equity stakes in infrastructure projects in which the CIB is also investing. Economic returns from these projects can be reinvested in the community, narrowing the economic and infrastructure gap among Indigenous communities.

The ICII is a collaborative financing solution that offers low-cost and long-term loans to Indigenous infrastructure projects and combines public funding and/or private and institutional investment to get more infrastructure built.

Through the ICII, our investment team looks to provide affordable, long-term financing to Indigenous projects that provide a direct benefit to an Indigenous community or communities.

The Canadian and Ontario governments launched this initiative to help growers plant varieties of produce that would improve quality, production, and marketability.

The Grow Ontario Market Initiative provides funding to primary producers, processors and industry organizations to find and develop domestic or export market opportunities.

You may use the funding to grow your business through:
1. Marketing analysis and planning
2. New product development
3. Marketing activities

The objectives of the GGI are to:
– increase public engagement and support for agriculture, local food and rural development
– build youth leadership capacity and increase youth involvement in the agri-food sector
– enhance safety and risk management practices in the agri-food sector
– strengthen public trust and public knowledge about Ontario’s agri-food systems
– encourage agri-food and rural development outcomes

The Grain Financial Protection Program protects producers who sell grains and oilseeds to licensed dealers and producers or owners who store grains and oilseeds at licensed elevators. The program has both a licensing and inspection component and a financial protection component.

The Future Ready (FR) program provides support for Ontario-based SMEs working in CIT’s four key sectors (Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, Agri-food and Mining) to upskill/reskill current employees on Critical Technologies (5G and advanced networks, AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Quantum,
and Robotics) to support the company’s adoption of Critical Technologies and commercialization of new products and services. Under this program eligible SMEs receive support to hire an external third-party consultant to train their employees in the adoption and implementation of these Critical Technologies.

The Food Safety and Growth Initiative (the Initiative) provides funding to small agri-food businesses to:
– modernize their food safety systems
– adopt new food safety and traceability equipment, technologies and standards
– stimulate growth in the agriculture and food sector
Funding for the Initiative comes from the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year (2023 to 2028) investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments. Up to $5 million has been allocated for the Initiative.

The Dealer Financing Program is when you buy new or used farm equipment and finance through a participating dealer.

FCC provides financing to young entrepreneurs under 40 to start or expand their business. They can purchase shares in, buy, or improve an agricultural or food-related business, and take their dream business to the next level.

FCC provides financing to women entrepreneurs in agriculture, agribusiness and agri-food to start or grow their business.Through our research and discussions with women in agriculture, we discovered three key needs: increased access to capital to start or grow their business, access to business and competency skill development for themselves and their business, and access to tools, resources, and people to learn from and be inspired.

FCC provides financing to agriculture and food industry startups and to agriculture, agribusiness or food and beverage-related business that were established within the past three years.

FCC and our participating livestock partners across Canada provide flexible and convenient financing tailored to the needs of feeder cattle and breeding livestock producers.

Financing livestock through a participating livestock partner gives you the convenience of one-stop shopping for your livestock purchases and a program designed for cattle producers, by cattle producers.

FCC offers financing to producers to build or expand their operations by buying new land or constructing new buildings.

FCC Input Financing is the simple and flexible way to free up your cash flow. You have 12 months to purchase fuel, fertilizer and crop protection, and up to 18 months to pay. Input financing is offered through local retailers allowing you to purchase and finance your inputs at the same time.

As Canada’s leading agriculture and food lender, FCC is proud to provide on and off-reserve financing and resources to Indigenous entrepreneurs, economic development corporations and First Nations communities.

Building a diverse industry is top priority and an integral part of FCC’s mandate. First Nations, Métis and Inuit have always been involved in agriculture and food and are uniquely positioned to reclaim their food sovereignty and grow successful businesses.

FCC lend money, share knowledge and provide other services to agribusinesses who provide inputs or add value to agriculture. If your business is looking to grow or expand, let’s talk and help you find new opportunities through our networks and financing expertise.

FCC offers financing for environmental solutions that can help farmers make environmental upgrades to their operation and switch to renewable energy resources.

If you’re looking to transfer farm assets or you’re a young farmer looking to build your farm, the Transition Loan can help make it happen. It allows you to make payments so you can manage your cash flow or build equity quickly – the choice is yours.

This Program provides a flexible incentive structure that can be customized to meet a Greenhouse plant’s particular needs. Financial incentives are provided for:
1. Audits, assessments and engineering analysis to identify and quantify thermal energy efficiency opportunities;
2. The purchase and installation of thermal energy-efficient equipment and technologies;
3. The implementation of operational improvements that reduce thermal energy requirements.

The Eastern Ontario Development Fund provides support for projects and investments to existing businesses, municipalities and not-for-profit organizations for economic development in eastern Ontario. The objective of the program is to provide financial support and services to help growing companies in eastern Ontario make investments to:
1. Grow their businesses
2. Improve productivity
3. Invest in innovation and skills development
4. Pursue new markets
5. Generate broad positive regional economic impact
6. Create new good, sustainable jobs

A project is a distinct undertaking, separate from ongoing operations, that will result in benefits to the organization such as business growth or access to new markets.

The Development and Commercialization (DC) Program supports the development and commercialization of Ontario made products and services that integrate/adopt Critical Technologies (5G and advanced networks, AI, blockchain, robotics, quantum, cybersecurity) related to four key sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Agri-Food, Construction and Mining.

The Dairy Processing Modernization Initiative provides funding to dairy processors for equipment upgrades that make processing more efficient and/or improve food safety.

The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) created the Dairy Innovation Program (DIP) on August 1, 2013 to replace the Domestic Dairy Product Innovation Program (DDPIP), which expired on July 31, 2013. On July 23, 2015, the DIP was amended to include the eligibility of butter and butter oil. Like the previous innovation program, the DIP is designed to grant dairy processors with continued access to the milk they require to produce innovative dairy products without affecting their existing provincial milk plant supply allocation. By encouraging such new development, the overall demand for milk is expected to increase. The CDC will provide an allocation credit (deducted from the Canadian requirement) to each province Footnote1 ;that supplies milk for the new DIP contracts. These credits will be allocated to the province on end-use butterfat basis with no conversion of credits into quota (crystallization).

The Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund (DIIF) aims to help dairy processors in making investments to increase competitiveness over the long term and adapt to the new market realities.

The objective of the Dairy Direct Payment Program is to support dairy producers as a result of market access commitments made under recent international trade agreements.

The FCC credit line provides funds to Canadian agriculture businesses to bridge the cash flow gap. It is a revolving, pre-approved loan that provides money for working capital.

The FCC Advancer Loan pulls out all the stops. It’s everything you need: a pre-approved, secured loan that continually re-advances funds as you grow your operation. And you’re in charge. You determine when you want loan funds disbursed to your account.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada launched the Global Innovation Clusters to support business-led innovation and large-scale collaboration among industry leaders, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and post‑secondary institutions, to develop and scale high-potential technologies in advanced manufacturing, agri‑food, clean technology, digital technology, health, bioscience and clean resources, infrastructure and transportation.
Cluster support programs:
1. Advanced manufacturing (Funded collaborative R&D in support of Canada’s Next Generation Manufacturing cluster. automation and robotics; machine vision; inspection and sensors; simulations and modelling; additive manufacturing; and advanced materials manufacturing);
2. Digital Health and Geospatial Analytics (Funded collaborative R&D in support of Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster in the areas of: Artificial intelligence and digital enablement for health – using artificial intelligence and digital technologies to improve healthcare delivery and connect it to real-world, evidence-based clinical research; and Geospatial Analytics – using digital geospatial technologies to solve compelling challenges in areas such as agriculture, forestry, environmental monitoring, transportation, and clean energy);
3. Ocean (Funded collaborative R&D in support of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster in the areas of: bio assets; intelligent ocean assets; coastal resilience; and pollution remediation);
4. Sustainable Protein Production (Funded collaborative R&D in support of Canada’s Protein Industries Supercluster in the areas of: genetics and genomics; pre‑breeding crop development and plant technologies; microalgal and macroalgal protein; microbial communities; processing and ingredients; food safety, traceability and sustainability);
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Logistics (Funded collaborative R&D in support of Canada’s AI- Powered Supply Chains Supercluster (Scale AI) in the areas of: transportation and warehousing; condition of infrastructure and goods; cybersecurity for logistics; and Canadian logistics AI‑powered modelling.

The program Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program will help the agriculture, agri-food, and agri-based products sector (‘agricultural sector’) take advantage of a situation or circumstance to develop a new idea, product, niche, or market opportunity
respond to new and emerging issues (address sector issues that were unknown or not a concern before)
find and test solutions to new and ongoing issues to adapt and remain competitive

The Canada Pavilion Program is aimed at making trade show participation easier at the world’s premier food and beverage events, “where the world shops”. With trade shows being an integral marketing technique used by industry when entering new regions, the Canada Pavilion Program will allow companies to take advantage of opportunities arising from market access gains.

The purpose of this Project Category is to reduce animal health risks in a measurable and proven way through physical set up of production areas, practices, testing, monitoring and management along with operations assessments/plans and education or training.

The purpose of this Project Category is to provide support to livestock Primary Producers and associated Service Providers to improve their traceability equipment and processes to help enhance protection of animal health, public health and food safety and to be well prepared for emerging regulatory and market standards (national and global).

The purpose of this Project Category is to build farm-specific knowledge and expertise in support of plant health (for example, conducting pest risk assessments, developing biosecurity procedures and integrated pest management plans, and participating in plant health training).

Ontario’s Beef Cattle Financial Protection Program provides financial protection to beef cattle sellers when a buyer defaults on payment.

Beef cattle sellers and buyers can be beef cattle producers, cooperatives or licensed dealers.

The AgriScience Program, under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), aims to accelerate innovation by providing funding and support for pre-commercial science activities and research that benefits the agriculture and agri-food sector and Canadians.

The AgriInnovate Program is a program under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP).
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 he Agriculture Economic Development program create the right conditions to allow agri-business to prosper. This program can help:
– identify opportunities and challenges in your local agricultural sector
– support a community-driven strategic planning process

The Agricultural Workforce Equity and Diversity Initiative (the Initiative) provides funding to organizations to support underrepresented groups in starting or growing their own business in the agri-food sector.

The Adoption Stream supports the purchase and installation of commercially available clean technology or equipment upgrades that will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG), fertilizer and methane emissions.

The new intake will be more ambitious in terms of reducing GHG emissions and will also emphasize support for measurable fertilizer and methane emission reductions in line with Government of Canada targets. Where possible, project submissions will be prioritized according to higher GHG, fertilizer or methane emission reductions.

The Research and Innovation Stream will support pre-market innovation, including research, development, demonstration and commercialization activities, to develop transformative clean technologies and enable the expansion of current technologies, in 3 priority areas:
1. Green energy and energy efficiency;
2. Precision agriculture;
3. Bioeconomy.

The AgriAssurance Program is a $64.05-million program under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP).

The program will contribute to the overarching objectives of Resiliency and Public Trust Strategic Initiatives of Sustainable CAP by enabling the development and adoption of industry-led sector-specific assurance systems to manage risks, enhance resiliency and address market considerations and challenges to public trust at the national level
help small and medium-sized enterprises export products by supporting the adoption of assurance systems and tools to make verifiable claims in order to meet market requirements
The program aims to increase and diversify exports to markets where Canada has Free Trade Agreements are in place
support industry to develop, verify and integrate assurance systems to address market and regulatory requirements (for example, food safety, plant and animal health surveillance, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, traceability, market attributes and quality standards) enable industry to make credible, meaningful and verifiable claims about the health, safety, and quality of Canadian agriculture products

The Agri-Food Energy Cost Savings Initiative provides funding to agri-food processors who use technologies and processes to increase energy efficiency in their operations.

The African Swine Fever Prevention and Preparedness investment aims to enhance efforts to prevent African swine fever (ASF) from entering Canada and prepare for a potential outbreak.

As part of the investment from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program (ASFIPP) will provide up to $23.4 million over 3 years. The program supports the pork industry to:

address identified gaps in prevention and mitigation efforts
develop the tools, partnerships, and activities needed to ensure the early detection of ASF and an effective emergency response in case of an outbreak. The ASFIPP offers support under 2 streams:

Welfare Slaughter and Disposal Stream
Prevention and Preparedness Stream
Note: There is a separate application process for the African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program: Prevention and Preparedness Stream.

AgriStability protects producers from large declines in their farming income caused by production loss, increased costs or market conditions. Farmers may receive a payment if their production margin in the current year falls below their historical reference margin by more than 30%.

AgriInvest is a self-managed producer-government savings account designed to help farmers manage small income declines and make investments to manage risk and improve market income. Farmers receive a matching contribution of up to $10,000 per year to help manage income declines or to make investments to mitigate on-farm risks. Their AgriInvest account grows as they make deposits, receive matching government contributions and earn interest.

AgriInsurance is a federal-provincial-producer cost-shared program that stabilizes a producer’s income by minimizing the economic effects of primarily production losses caused by severe but uncontrollable natural hazards. Some examples of possible eligible perils are drought, flood, wind, frost, excessive rain, heat, snow, uncontrolled disease, insect infestations and wildlife. Producers get a payment when they experience a production loss during the year. The program contributes a portion of total premiums and administrative costs to this provincially delivered program.

Five provinces participate in the reinsurance arrangement: Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.