Changes to the Growing Forward 2 program
Posted: March 27, 2017
Categories: Food in the News / GoodFoodBites / Growing Good Food Ideas
The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association has released a document about the Growing Forward 2 program, it is in response to the bulletin released March 10th by OMAFRA. Growing Forward 2 program is defined by OMAFRA as a federal-provincial-territorial initiative that encourages innovation, competitiveness, market development, adaptability and industry sustainability in Canada’s agri-food and agri-products sectors. Below is the document released by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.
Updates to Growing Forward 2 Effective immediately, the following updates have been made to the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) Cost-share Funding Assistance Program for Producers:
- There is no limit to the number of active applications a farm business may have open at any given time.
- Producers may submit up to two applications per application intake to any of the project categories.
- Project category A.3 Land Application of Manure is now available across Ontario with a maximum available cost-share of $10,000 per project. The priority geographies previously in place have been removed for this category.
- The maximum available cost-share per project has been increased for the following project categories: o A.0.2 – Environmental planning – $10,000
- 5 Cover Crops – $10,000 for an eligible acreage of up to 200 acres
- 11 – Actions for biodiversity/habitat enhancements – $25,000
- Under the Environment and Climate Change Adaptation focus area, there are four new project categories addressing greenhouse gas reduction:
- 13 Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from indoor agriculture facilities
- 14 Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through geothermal heating and cooling
- 15 Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through on-farm energy efficiency and energy conservation measures
- 16 Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and benefiting soil health and water quality, through equipment modifications
- A new tool to assist producers in calculating potential reductions in greenhouse gas emissions is available – GO-CALC – The Greenhouse Gas Ontario Covered Agriculture Calculator
- GO-CALC is available at www.ontariosoilcrop.org/growing-forward-2-resources GF2 remains a merit-based program, meaning producers need to take time in selecting a project and make sure they have the necessary assessments and plans in place to support the project.
Applications are only accepted during intakes, and the project must receive approval before it can be undertaken in order for costs to be eligible. All projects approved in the 2017 intakes will have to be completed by December 15, 2017, with a claim submitted no later than January 15, 2017. There are two intakes remaining:
| Intake |
Dates |
|
2 |
April 4-18 2017 |
|
3 |
May 12- June 1 2017 |
For complete details on eligible projects and program requirements and access to application forms, visit ontariosoilcrop.org (found under GF2 Resources).
Questions – contact us at gf2@ontariosoilcrop.org or call 1-800-265-9751.