Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Business Funding Outlook for 2014: A Fantastic Year for Accessing Government Funding




bigstock-Open-Bank-Vault-Door-45253990

View the original article on www.mentorworks.ca for links to specif...

2013 saw billions in government funding flow into small and mid-sized businesses across Canada. It was a great year for our clients, and with several new funding initiatives launching as well as many popular programs being replenished in 2014; this year will be a great year for your business to finally dive into Canadian government funding.

Canadian & Ontario Business Grants for Agriculture and Agri-Food

In 2014 agriculture and agri-food will remain one of the most substantially funded sectors. The recently launched Local Food Fund is offering Ontario government grants to help support the demand for and awareness of local food in Ontario. The program has been allotted $10 million and will fund up to 50% of projects costs.

Small Businesses Continue to Leverage Growing Forward 2 Government Grants & Loans

Meanwhile, Growing Forward 2 offers a number of funding opportunities, including capacity building and implementation projects that fund from 50 to 75% of eligible project costs under the provincial stream of Growing Forward 2 organizations and collaborations. Our clients have also accessed funding set aside for Food and Agri-Product Processors, as well as the popular programs like AgriMarketing through the Growing Forward 2’s federal stream. With 2 streams of funding, AgriMarketing aims to enhance the marketing capacity of industries by allowing them to identify marketing priorities and thereby increasing their chances of global success.  AgriMarketing’s Market Development Streamfunds SMEs up to 50% or $50,000 of their eligible expenses, with the Assurance System’s stream handling larger industry-led initiatives.

Mentor Works is Carefully Watching Out for Renewal of Funding for Capital Expenditures and HR & Training

With the fiscal year beginning in April of 2014, Mentor Works is patiently awaiting the renewal of two very popular funding programs, Yves Landry government grants for high skilled and training and CME Smart Prosperity Now funding for capital expenditures to assist with export expansion capabilities. Funding through Yves Landry covers up to 50% or $50,000 to support training related to the adoption of new technology and or processes or procedures related to business expansion. CME Smart Prosperity Nowsupports projects that improve operational efficiency, reduce waste, or contribute to global expansion efforts.

New Suite of Funding Programs Offered through FedDev Ontario

FedDev Ontario recently launched a new suite of Canadian business grants and loans called Southern Ontario Prosperity Initiatives worth $530 million collectively Included within the suite of programs is a program that we have supported in the past called Investing in Business Innovation (IBI), as well as new programs including Investing in Business Growth and Productivity (IBGP), Investing in Commercialization Partnerships (ICP), and Investing in Regional Development (IRD). These initiatives amount to more than half a billion dollars in funding for firms from early stage-start-ups, to SMEs and Not-For-Profits to grow and develop their businesses and communities. To help educate our clients about these exciting new programs we are offering a series of complimentary government funding workshops and webinars. We will also discuss the newly released $200 million Advanced Manufacturing Fundwithin our exclusive presentations.

IRAP Funding Will Continue to Play a Significant Role in Our Clients’ Funding Strategies

The Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) will continue to be a big part of many of our clients’ respective cash flow strategies. IRAP fundingcan be used to solve a technical or innovation problem. Through the use of IRAP our clients have leveraged up to over $100K for projects as diverse as improving websites and developing e-commerce portals, to ERP or CRM upgrades and implementation, software development, and more.

Grants for Hiring Recent Graduates and Skilled Professionals Front and Center Again in 2014

Programs offered by funding organizations to assists small to mid-sized businesses to hire skilled professionals and recent graduates have always been among the most popular programs highlighted within Mentor Works’ presentations and online content, as they are obviously among the most widely accessible of government grants opportunities available. Leading up to 2014, we saw a new program called the Youth Employment Fund release, adding to a handful of other programs left over from 2013.  With the majority of funding for hiring programs being released in April 2014, we are looking forward to programs offered through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), the extremely popular Career Focus funding programs.

Attend a Free Canadian Government Funding Workshop and/or Webinar

Take your first step to greater financial stability and success by signing up for a Canadian government funding workshop or webinar, offered free of charge to owners and leaders of established small to mid-sized businesses.  You can also sign up for our Canadian government funding weekly e-newsletter.

Views: 108

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Canadian Cattle Young Leaders Travel to Kamloops Area for Annual Spring Forum

Canadian Cattle Young Leaders (CYL) mentees from across Canada gathered May 28–30 for the annual Spring Forum. For the first time, the three-day event was held in Kamloops, BC and the surrounding area. The 15 young leaders participated in a range of industry tours and training designed to enhance their Canadian beef industry knowledge and connections, specifically in the British Columbia region. The first day kicked off with industry experts sharing their insights on timely industry topics. The young leaders heard from Blake Lechkobit and Tammy Cox from Foundation Partner MNP about financial literacy and business planning. From our Platinum partner Cargill, Kristine Tapley spoke about sustainability in the beef industry and Cargill’s connection with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB). To round out these sessions, the CYLs also had the opportunity to voice their perspective on industry questions brought forward by Platinum Partner McDonald’s Canada. After the speaker

GIFS at USask to welcome Dr. Karen Churchill as new Chief Scientific Officer

The Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has named Dr. Karen Churchill (PhD) as its new Chief Scientific Officer. Churchill, an accomplished leader in Canada’s agriculture and food sector, comes to GIFS from Ag-West Bio, where she has served as President and CEO since 2019. Over the next few months, Karen will work with Ag-West Bio on a transition plan before joining GIFS full time. “Saskatchewan is home to a dynamic agriculture and food innovation ecosystem, which I see every day at Ag-West Bio. It’s been an honour to lead this organization and I continue to draw great inspiration and motivation from our team and its member organizations, including the Global Institute for Food Security,” said Churchill. “I want to thank the Board and everyone at Ag-West Bio for their work and dedication and am committed to working with our team to ensure a smooth transition. I am leaving Ag-West Bio with mixed emotions, but I know there’ll be opportu

New smartphone-based AI tool in development will strengthen grain quality data for farmers, buyers and processors

Today, Protein Industries Canada announced a partnership with Grain Discovery, Inarix and Sevita International to bring artificial intelligence (AI) into the palms of farmers’ hands and further strengthen Canada’s trusted grain quality system. The project will develop a smartphone-based grain quality assurance tool that builds on Canada’s existing dependable grading framework by bringing in digital capacity, supporting informed crop management decisions and expanding access to real-time quality data. By leveraging AI, specifically computer vision and machine learning algorithms, the project partners will provide options to complement grain testing methods with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Once developed, the platform will allow users to take a photo of a soybean sample using a standard smartphone and receive an AI-generated quality assessment in under 20 seconds. By delivering consistent, scalable and real-time results, the tool will help improve information flow throughou

Crop Report for the Period June 3 to June 9, 2025

Almost all Saskatchewan producers have completed their seeding operations with 100 per cent of the 2025 crop seeded. Rain was welcome in many parts of the province this week. However, in areas that did not receive as much rain, topsoil moisture is continuing to decline.  Rain fell in many areas of the province over the last week with the southeast and east-central regions receiving the highest amounts. The Calder area reported the highest rainfall amount at 36 millimeters (mm) followed by the Stockholm area at 35 mm and the Rocanville area at 34 mm. Regions that did not receive significant amounts of precipitation have noted that rainfall is needed soon to avoid serious crop damage.  With sporadic rain across the province, moisture conditions overall remained at similar levels as last week. However, some areas continued to see a decline in topsoil moisture. Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as two per cent surplus, 44 per cent adequate, 42 per cent short and 12 per cent very short.

Ottawa Police looking for farm equipment accident witnesses

Two teens in Ottawa were involved in an accident with farm equipment

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service