Ottawa and Queen’s Park want to expand the diversity of the workforce in the agri-food business.
The federal and provincial are offering grants of up to $100,000 to under-represented groups looking to venture into the agri-food business. This applies to Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, 2SLGBTQI+ people, persons with disabilities, youth, women or members of French linguistic minority communities who are primary agricultural producers and food processors.
The funding is available through the $1.5 million Agricultural Workforce Equity and Diversity Initiative (AWEDI) to help minority groups start and build businesses in the agri-food sector.
The details of this initiative are here.
The application process opens Oct. 8 and closes Dec. 3. To be eligible, applicants must be organizations, research bodies, municipalities or Indigenous communities will be accepted.
Successful projects must identify some barrier to finance and/or should provide access to equipment and spaces, such as greenhouses, vertical farming or land to grow or process agri-food products.
“This initiative will help folks from under-represented groups get started and succeed, while making the sector even stronger,” said federal agriculture and agri-food minister Lawrence MacAulay in a news release.
“A priority of our Grow Ontario Strategy is to unlock the full potential of the entrepreneurial talent of our diverse communities to strengthen our $51-billion agri-food sector,” said his provincial counterpart Rob Flack, Ontario’s minister of agriculture, food and agribusiness. “Our government is confident that cultivating new talent in the growing agri-food sector will drive long-term prosperity and innovation while creating good paying agri-food jobs.”
