The governments of Canada and British Columbia have invested an additional $10.4 million in a program that promotes the creation of new products and practices in B.C.'s agrifood industry.

The boost to the Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program results in a total of $13.4 million being available to support innovation in B.C. between 2013 and 2018. The Growing Forward 2 funding builds on a $3-million two-year commitment announced in 2013. So far, 19 projects have shared more than $1.8 million in 2013-14, including projects transforming agricultural waste into value-added products, testing a rubber-bearing plant variety, and developing new food and beverage products, as well as plant propagation and bio-control measures.

Projects funded through the program must have the potential to lead to the commercialization and/or adoption of innovative products, technologies and practices, and could include:

• Advancements in plant, animal and food science.
• Energy and waste management.
• New product development and commercialization.
• Improvements in soil, water and air quality.
• Climate change adaptation.

To be eligible, applicants must be appropriately registered, licensed and/or certified to conduct business in British Columbia. Eligible applicants may include the following:

• B.C. agrifood producers and processors.
• Industry associations and organizations.
• Retail and foodservice businesses.
• Input, technology and support service providers.
• Academic institutions and/or other organizations and private-sector businesses.
• Regional districts and local governments.

The Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program is administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. Additional program information and application forms are available at: http://iafbc.ca/agri-innovation.htm

The five-year Growing Forward 2 agreement is a $3-billion investment in innovation, competitiveness and market development, which includes $2 billion cost-shared on a 60:40 basis for programs delivered by provinces and territories (a 50% increase in cost-shared funding), as well as $1 billion for federal-only strategic initiatives.

The BC Jobs Plan's Agrifoods Strategy clearly states how innovation and improved competitiveness will help the agriculture sector become a $14-billion-a-year industry by 2017.

Quotes:

Gerry Ritz, Federal Agriculture Minister -

"Our Government is proud to partner with the Province of British Columbia to help B.C. producers drive growth in Canada's agriculture industry. Using the flexibility of GF2, these projects will help BC producers to be more productive, competitive, and profitable."

Pat Pimm, B.C. Minister of Agriculture -

"This program promotes the creativity of our province's agriculture industry, and supports increased sales through the development of new products and practices."

"The program's expansion offers more opportunities for B.C. companies to increase their markets, and turn product and business ideas into new dollars."

Ken Bates, chair, Investment Agriculture Foundation -

"We are excited to help industry transform innovative ideas into competitive advantages."

"Having this money available to support late-stage research and development, and commercialization helps keep the B.C. agri-foods sector vital and sustainable."

Geoff White, CEO and founder of ProgenyBio Agricultural Services Inc. -

"Funding through the Agri-Innovation program has allowed us to invest more time and energy into our project, therefore accelerating the timeline for getting this technology commercialized and to market."

Learn More:

For Information on federal Growing Forward 2 programs, visit: www.agr.gc.ca/GrowingForward2.

Information on Growing Forward 2 programs in British Columbia is available at http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/apf/GF2/GF2.html.

The news release announcing the $3-million program launch in 2013: http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2013/07/canada-and-bc-support-agriculture-innovation-and-competitiveness.html

A backgrounder follows.

Media Contacts:

Dave Townsend
Government Communications and Public Engagement
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
250 356-7098

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613 773-7972
1 866 345-7972

Jeff English
Director of Communications
The Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
613 773-1059

Follow AAFC on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada (twitter.com)

BACKGROUNDER

Canada and B.C. support innovative agriculture projects

Terroir Cheese Ltd:

$250,000 to implement innovative manufacturing technologies and processes to produce local raw-milk artisan cheeses and sustain premium-quality products in the North Okanagan region.

Bovicor Pharmatech Inc:

$207,000 to study the use of a non-antibiotic and anti-microbial product for Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex and the commercial impact for the natural and organic beef industry.

Canadian Cultured Dairy Inc:

$171,850 to develop a unique Greek yogurt using ultrafiltration technology in their existing plant. The project is a collaboration between dairy-industry stakeholders, small-scale food processors and local dairy producers.

Neova Technologies Inc:

$167,170 to demonstrate the beneficial effect of purified natural proteins as a feed additive for honey bee colonies.

Nova-BioRubber Green Technologies Inc:

$125,000 for the development and demonstration of agricultural and pilot-scale processing practices for a rubber-bearing plant (Taraxacum kok-saghyz) in British Columbia.

Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University:

$122,120 to develop new B.C. native fungal and viral microbial bio-control products and pilot scale for three new bio-pesticides.

Alpha Health Products Ltd:

$117,410 to proceed with a pilot project for the reformulation, testing, and marketing of their ketone substrate edible oils.

Burton Software Inc:

$104,665 to commercialize the Icicle Food Safety Platform. Icicle is a Cloud-based software system that provides an affordable solution for small- and medium-sized food producers and processors to manage their food-safety documentation and third-party certification processes.

Vitalus Nutrition:

$94,100 to validate the galactoligosacharides (GOS) production process from milk permeate. If GOS results validate previous research, the permeate could be a source of pre-biotics with potential benefits for infant formula and other food products. It would also transform a current waste-stream product into a value-added specialty product.

BC Food Processors Association:

$85,000 for a project designed to build the sector's competitive advantage and proactively address the need to improve the nutritional quality of food by validating the results of social marketing to promote healthy choices.

G.O. Water Inc:

$81,606 to process sap from birch trees into an all-natural organic beverage for consumer consumption in North America and Asia.

NutraEx Food Inc:

$75,000 for a natural sweeteners manufacturing pilot project, aimed at reducing sugar and sweeteners in foods and helping address concerns around obesity and diabetes.

Cowichan Energy Alternatives:

$67,700 to test the safety and efficacy of a new fertilizer product. By converting vegetable oils into biofuel, the results are a glycerin by product that can be turned into a useful, nutrient rich soil amendment.

ProgenyBio Agricultural Services Inc:

$60,000 for the development of tissue culture micropropagation for organic greenhouse industry production. This could be beneficial to all greenhouse plant production systems, as the technology could open new markets for organic greenhouse producers by introducing new crops and increasing production output through uniform, more advanced, heartier, disease-free starting material.

The BX Press Inc:

$46,451 for a project that plans to demonstrate that adding hard cider and blended cider to an Okanagan orchard operation will provide farmers a true value-added opportunity with strong market demand.

Merridale Ciderworks Corp:

$39,050 for a project that will use available B.C. agricultural products to create new world-class spirits, and then develop and expand the market focusing on historical craft distilling methods.

BC Agricultural Research & Development Corp:

$34,500 to complete block design floor pen studies under tightly controlled conditions to measure the impacts on broiler chicken feed conversion and growth by feeding broiler chickens pellets supplemented with .25 to 1.5 per cent biochar made from poultry litter.

BC Food Processors Association:

$15,000 for a pilot program that will assist with the commercialization of products manufactured by 10 up-and-coming food and/or beverage companies that meet predetermined eligibility criteria. Preference will be given to assisting with the commercialization of products that contain B.C. grown and/or harvested inputs.

Calissi Farms Inc:

$6,006 to learn new advancements in European tree fruit nursery technology, and gain supply and demand outlook for dwarf apple rootstock. Also, Calissi Farms will visit several apple-breeding programs and gain commercial licences to bring new varieties to Canada.

Media Contacts:

Dave Townsend
Government Communications and Public Engagement
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
250 356-7098

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613 773-7972
1 866 345-7972

Jeff English
Director of Communications
The Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
613 773-1059

Follow AAFC on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada (twitter.com)