Agricultural Workforce Equity and Diversity Initiative

Overview

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.

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 $1,500,000 has been allocated for the Initiative.

Important dates

Application intake will open on October 8, 2024.

Applications intake will close on December 3, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

You can only submit one application to the Initiative during this intake period.

Eligibility

Refer to the Initiative guidelines (PDF) for detailed requirements.

Applicants

You must be one of the following:

• an industry organization
• a research body
• a municipality
• an Indigenous community
• an Indigenous government

Projects

Projects must serve at least one underrepresented group, including:

• Indigenous communities/governments
• youth
• women
• visible minorities
• 2SLGBTQI+ people
• persons with disabilities
• members of English and French linguistic minority communities

Projects must also support one of the following:

• address barriers to financing
• provide access to equipment
• provide access to spaces (such as greenhouse space, vertical farming space or land to grow and/or process agri-food products)

Supporting activities, such as development/delivery of training, mentoring, analysis, promotion, cannot be stand-alone projects.

Funding

You could get 70% of eligible costs, up to a maximum of $100,000 in funding for a project under the Initiative.

If you can demonstrate financial need, you could get up to 85% of eligible costs, up to a maximum of $100,000 in funding for a project under the Initiative.

Only projects with a minimum of $25,000 in eligible costs will be considered.

Stacking

You cannot submit an application for a project if you have already received funding for that project through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

You can apply for and receive other government or third-party funding if the other programs allow stacking.

If you have received funding for the project through other sources, the total assistance provided from all funding sources cannot be greater than 100% of the total eligible costs.

All funding for a project, including from additional sources, must be listed on the application form.

How to apply

1. Download and read the Initiative guidelines (PDF).
2. Download and complete the application form (PDF) – available October 8, 2024.
3. Gather the required documents.
4. Submit the application and required documents to SustainableCAP1@ontario.ca

Required documents

In addition to your application form, you must provide written quotes from third parties detailing the proposed eligible costs for the project.

After you apply

After you submit your application, we will send you an acknowledgement email within 5 business days.

We will begin reviewing all applications after the intake period closes. If your application is missing any information, we will not assess it and you will be notified via email.

We will assess completed applications against eligibility and merit criteria.

Selection process

Ministry staff will review completed application forms to determine whether you are eligible to participate in the Initiative.

Projects by eligible applicants will be evaluated based on the extent to which the following criteria are met:

• the project addresses barriers to financing, provides access to equipment or access to spaces (such as greenhouse space, vertical farming space or land) to grow and/or process agri-food products
• the project supports underrepresented groups
• the project is supported by partners or other parties from underrepresented groups
• the knowledge translation and transfer (KTT) approach supports sharing project outcomes

If you are not approved

We will email you about the decision. You may request a debrief from ministry staff.

If you are approved

We will email you about the decision. We will also email you an approval letter.

You will need to meet several obligations including:

• signing the approval letter
• registering with Transfer Payment Ontario
• registering with Supply Ontario to receive payments
• submitting claim(s) and final report

Refer to the Initiative guidelines (PDF) for detailed instructions.