Manitoba Agriculture launched its new Indigenous Agriculture and Relationship Development program today with several new funding streams.
The new program will support a wide range of initiatives, priorities, and innovative partnerships that enhance relationships with Indigenous peoples and increase Indigenous participation and opportunities in Manitoba’s agriculture and agri-food economy.
These new programs have been developed to increase Indigenous participation in the agri-food and agriculture sectors. Activities can include establishing and growing food systems, supporting partnerships and collaboration and much more. The Indigenous Agriculture and Food Systems program will provide funding across four funding streams:
- Planning and Consulting, which support access to community-driven, culturally relevant services and the development of resource materials, up to a maximum of $80,000.
- Training activities, which support sharing skills, group learning and knowledge transfer events, up to a maximum of $10,000.
- Enhancing Indigenous Food Systems, which support the design and development of community-based food systems from planning and training through to implementation, up to a maximum of $200,000.
- Capital Equipment and Software, which support access to capital items required in implementing and/or scaling up food system/agriculture projects from production and processing to preservation, with a 50 per cent government and 50 per cent applicant cost-sharing up to a maximum of $50,000 in funding.
There is also a new Relationship Engagement and Relationship Development program that will provide small funding grants of up to $5,000 per application to support meaningful engagement activities prior to exploring ideas and initiating projects. These are terrific for small communities and projects, and are open to Indigenous organizations, not-for-profit groups, Indigenous-owned businesses, academia, researchers and others.
We really encourage anyone who might be interested in these new programs to check them out.
Here are links to each of the new program streams:
Indigenous Agriculture and Relationship Development
- Planning and Consulting
- Training
- Enhancing Indigenous Food Systems
- Capital Equipment and Software
- Relationship Engagement and Relationship Development
The Indigenous Agriculture and Relationship Development program is open and accepting applications until Oct. 27, 2023! There are also helpful program staff too who can answer questions and provide more information.
The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year, $3.5-billion investment by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments that supports Canada’s agri-food and agri-products sectors. This includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and a $2.5-billion commitment that is cost-shared 60 per cent federally and 40 per cent provincially/territorially for programs that are designed and delivered by provinces and territories.
