Innovation centre gets more than $2.2 million for agri-food sector

The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) is receiving more than $2.2 million in FedNor funding from the federal government in order to support the agri-food sector in northern Ontario. 

A total of $1,625,404 of that funding will go to the innovation centre for the Sustainable New Agri-food Products and Productivity (SNAPP) program over the next three years, while $592,097 will go towards helping maple syrup producers locally. 

Sault Ste. Marie MP Terry Sheehan was joined by SSMIC Executive Director Peter Bruijns and Rural Agri-Innovation Network (RAIN) Project Coordinator David Thompson at Thomson Strawberry Farm Monday morning to make the announcement - his first as parliamentary secretary to federal economic development minister Mélanie Joly. 

“The people at FedNor have done a great job at administering this program,” Sheehan told reporters following Monday’s funding announcement. “I’m extra proud, as my first announcement as parliamentary secretary, to do it in my own backyard on such a great business here, Thomson Farms.”

RAIN’s project coordinator tells SooToday that 40 agri-food sector projects have been supported in northern Ontario since the introduction of the SNAPP program back in 2015, and that roughly 40 projects could potentially receive financial assistance with the recently renewed SNAPP funding.  

“In the past we had about 40 different projects in Algoma, and with this new funding that’s been announced, we can do close to that same amount - about 40 projects - for the sector,” said Thompson. “Each project will receive up to $10,000 in grant funding for a project that will create a new product, for a product that will enhance their productivity or to implement a clean technology.”

“We’re looking for innovation in terms of the projects themselves, so it will have a lot of benefits - for farmers to help them scale up, to be more efficient businesses, and to get products like what Thomson’s has here today on grocery stores shelves.” 

It’s hoped the federal funding will ultimately increase access to capital, address market challenges in the agri-food sector such as shorter growing seasons and promote value-added processing and innovative production. 

“I want to see more and more agri-businesses,” said Sheehan. “A lot of people don’t associate northern Ontario right away with agri-business, but it’s huge in northern Ontario - and it can be even better with these investments.” 

The deadline for funding applications to the SNAPP program is Feb. 28. 

More information on how to apply for funding can be found on the RAIN Algoma website.