Investing in agri-meals innovation – MPP Jim McDonell

Funding Now Offered for New-to-Ontario Automation and Machinery

KINCARDINE — The Ontario government is investing in new partnerships in agri-foodstuff innovation, such as pilot tasks in robotics and artificial intelligence, to help the business
tackle pandemic linked issues, ongoing labour shortages, and build new chances for advancement across the sector.

The Innovator Stream is the focused 2nd section of the Agri-tech Innovation Application, a $22 million application launched in April to give up to 60 per cent funding for eligible fees, to a
most of $750,000, to develop greater-scale collaboration jobs aimed at boosting the wellbeing and security of staff and rising productiveness.

“Investing in new technology will have tremendous prospective to support our agri-food items market meet a lot of of the existing worries it faces,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture,
Meals and Rural Affairs. “I’m contacting on agri-food businesses, commodity businesses and technologies providers to be a part of this interesting new initiative and aid guard the security of agri-foodstuff
staff, even though making certain Ontario’s agri-meals sector carries on to direct throughout North American and all over the environment.”

The Innovator Stream consumption focuses on ground-breaking assignments the place innovation — these types of as piloting the use of autonomous farm devices in an operational environment — is new to
Ontario, North America or the agri-sector. Funding eligibility will include specific, specialised, high-impact assignments that pilot or display slicing-edge know-how. Initiatives will call for
collaboration involving at minimum two agri-food stuff enterprises, organizations and agri-meals engineering companies or builders.

“Innovation is the driving force of competitiveness in modern agriculture, and the critical to safeguarding our workforce while ensuring very long-term good results,” explained Minister Thompson.
“To be a remarkably competitive foodstuff and beverage processing sector globally, we ought to be ahead pondering on innovation,” said Chris Conway, CEO, Food stuff and Beverage Ontario. “This
program will make it possible for leaders in know-how and business to work jointly on priority troubles this kind of as labour efficiency and develop new solutions that will benefit the whole
sector.”

“The Agri-tech Innovation Program has been, and will be, instrumental to more mobilize the Ontario agricultural innovation and engineering supply chain and aid the sector in conference
the demands of these days and the future”, stated Ian Potter, PhD, President and CEO, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland). “Working collaboratively to put into action ground breaking
enterprise-concentrated technological solutions and create most effective practices is the path forward.”

The Innovators Stream intake will run from August 19 to September 27, 2021.

Quick Info

• Details, application suggestions and application forms are out there as of August 19, 2021 for the Innovators cost-shared stream. Qualified purposes will be assessed employing a
merit-centered evaluate procedure the moment the consumption closes.

• The Innovators stream will deliver funding for targeted projects that involve the piloting and/or demonstration of technological innovation that innovations automation
through robotics, artificial intelligence, electronic and/or other varieties of modern technologies that lessen labour-intense perform practices and procedures usually
related with high-hazard COVID transmission.

• Jobs will aid to reveal the usefulness and advantages of the technological know-how and help aid scale-up and upcoming adoption. They will focus on technology innovations
that are not readily commercially obtainable still but have very clear sector prospective and are ready to be piloted and shown in operational environments.

• Potential venture concentration regions could involve for instance innovation for crop production, for livestock or poultry manufacturing or for food preparing, processing and production.

• The ingestion declared right now is the next phase of the Agri-tech Innovation Application declared in April 2021.
– Under the first period, the Early Adopters stream, charge-share funding is getting presented to aid farming functions and processor companies adopt ground breaking and new technologies that increase security of employees in opposition to COVID-19, lead to increased business enterprise efficiencies and efficiency, and enable construct the sector’s resilience. The consumption opened on Could 17 and closed on June 21, 2021.

• The Agri-tech Innovation Program complements the province’s Avoidance, Regulate and Outbreak Guidance System for COVID-19 in Ontario’s Farm Personnel, which endorses
35 actions to prevent and regulate COVID-19 on farms, guard farm employee protection and wellness, and sustain the sustainability and viability of the agri-food sector.