Fund Details

The Agricultural Flexibility Fund (AgriFlexibility) was announced as part of Budget 2009 and is a five-year fund ending March 31, 2014. The $500 million fund's objective is directly linked to AAFC's departmental strategic outcomes of an agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector that is innovative, environmentally sustainable, competitive and that proactively manages risks. To meet these outcomes, AgriFlexibility has three broad elements to help the sector's value chain, including farmers and processors, become more efficient, sustainable and remain competitive.

AgriFlexibility's three key priorities are:

• Help reduce the cost of production or improve environmental sustainability for the sector
  Under this element proposals could, for example, aim to expand adoption of management practices and technologies that result in lasting reduction of costs of production such as reducing the usage of agricultural inputs, lowering production or agricultural processing costs; or improve environmental performance such as sustainable water resources for agricultural use or accelerating the use of agricultural biomass for bio-energy.
• Support value-chain innovation and sectoral adaptation
  Under this element proposals could, for example aim to enhance integration of the value chain, bringing added value to producers for products, or to develop innovative, value added products that enhance competitiveness and create growth markets for primary agriculture increasing the availability of high-quality Canadian-made agri-food and bio-products domestically and internationally. Another example could be proposals that enable proactive adaptation to changing market conditions that result in viable businesses.
• Address emerging market opportunities and challenges for the sector
  Under this element proposals could, for example seek to maintain global competitiveness, expand or recapture markets for Canadian food and agricultural products or address emerging opportunities or challenges through enabling technologies, research and development capacity of the sector, traceability or biosecurity and assurance systems.

Delivery of AgriFlexibility

Initiatives undertaken by AgriFlexibility will either be one-time investments for a specific purpose, or multi-year initiatives, delivered and administered similar to a stand-alone program. Both approaches may be funded by one of three methods: solely federally funded; cost-shared at a 60:40 ratio with participating provinces or territories; or cost-shared with sector groups, either in partnership with the federal government, or jointly with the federal government and one or more provinces or territories on a 60:40 basis.

Funding provided to for-profit organizations will normally be in the form of repayable contributions. Funding provided to not-for-profit organizations will be non-repayable.

Depending on the funding arrangement, applicants may either apply directly to AAFC to deliver a project or initiative, or apply to AAFC to receive funds to provide support to the intended target. All proposals, no matter which method is used, are submitted to the national AgriFlexibility administration for assessment. More information on submitting proposals can be found on the How to Apply page.

Examples of Potential Benefits

Under the three main elements of AgriFlexibility, there are a number of areas that can be focused on that can potentially provide benefits to farmers, producers, processors and other parts of the value chain. Example of these potential benefits may include, but are not limited to:

Help reduce the cost of production or improve environmental sustainability for the sector:

• expand adoption of management practices and technologies that result in lasting reduction of costs of production (e.g., long-term increase in farm profitability);
• expand adoption of management practices and technologies that result in reduced environmental footprint (e.g., long-term improvements to environmental sustainability in the areas of soil, water and air quality).

Support value-chain innovation and sectoral adaptation:

• increase the available supply of high-quality Canadian-made agri-food and bio-products both domestically and internationally (e.g., support the commercialization of new agri-food and bio-products);
• proactive adaptation to changing market conditions that result in viable businesses.

Address emerging market opportunities and challenges for the sector:

• expand or recapture market access for Canadian food and agriculture products and increased market demand for Canadian food and agriculture products;
• provision of new technology to transform commodities into new value-added or bioproduct market opportunities.