NEWS RELEASE
Ontario Supporting Economic Recovery of Farmers
Among the more than 600 projects are 23 in Northumberland–Peterborough South
NEWS August 9, 2021
PORT HOPE, ON – The Governments of Ontario and Canada are investing $7.3 million
through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership to help support farmers and agri–food
businesses. The investment will fund projects in priority areas that increase food safety,
accelerate sector innovation and help farmers bring new products to market to grow
their businesses.
This funding supports more than 600 cost–shared projects that strengthen Ontario’s
agri–food sector by helping eligible farmers in over 270 communities across the province
to continue producing safe, high quality food in Ontario.
Today, David Piccini, MPP for Northumberland–Peterborough South, highlighted the
cost–share funding through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership to eligible farmers and
agri–food businesses. Included among the more than 600 projects are 23 in
Northumberland–Peterborough South. These local projects are receiving a total
investment of $282,187.91. Project locations include Keene, Gores Landing, Norwood,
Baltimore, Warkworth, Cobourg, Hastings and Newcastle.
“Through this investment of over $282,000 we are supporting a range of local farmer–
driven projects to improve on–farm practices,” said MPP David Piccini. “It’s about
supporting growth at the farm level, which will have positive impacts across Ontario’s
agri–food sector. Building resiliency within our agri–food sector will help keep our
province’s food supply strong and more able to adapt to challenges in the future.”
Positive outcomes of projects funded under this intake include:
– Improvement of food safety systems on farms to meet or exceed national and
international certification standards;
– Development of products that will open new sales markets for farm businesses for
example, a new organic pepper product to expand markets or developing maple
butter as a new, value–added farm product;
– Planting cover crops to improve soil health and reduce soil erosion losses over
winter;
– Increasing preventative measures to help reduce pest damage at greenhouse
operations; and
– Upgrades to animal–handling equipment to improve animal welfare and reduce
disease transmission on livestock farms.
Since June 2018, both the federal and provincial governments have committed over
$100 million in cost–share support to more than 5,000 projects through the Canadian
Agricultural Partnership to help eligible Ontario farmers, processors, businesses and
sector organizations innovate and grow.
QUICK FACTS
– The Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five–year, $3 billion investment by federal,
provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the agriculture and agri–food
sector, ensuring continued innovation, growth and prosperity. This commitment
includes $2 billion for programs that are cost–shared by the federal and provincial
and territorial governments and are designed and delivered by provinces and
territories.
– This cost–share funding is supporting projects in the following key priority areas:
o Economic development in the agri–food and agri–products sectors.
o Environmental stewardship to enhance water quality and soil health.
o Protection and assurance to reinforce the foundation for public trust in the
sector through improved assurance systems in food safety and plant and
animal health.
– In Ontario, cost–share programming to support farmers and other businesses
through the Partnership is delivered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement
Association (OSCIA).
– For more information about the programming contact OMAFRA via
ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca or 1–877–424–1300.
– The Ontario agri–food sector supports more than 860,000 jobs in Ontario and
contributes more than $47.3 billion each year to the province’s economy.
