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BC offers on-farm funding for COVID-19 safety supplies

The On-Farm Food Safety Program (OFFS) in British Columbia is offering COVID-19 cost-share funding between April 2020 – March 2021 for eligible agriculture and agri-food businesses to acquire Personal Protective Equipment and other approved safety supplies for use at their facilities, in order to maintain a safe workplace and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.

Eligible participants must be either federally or provincially registered businesses with an active GST number and must be based and operating out of British Columbia. The applicant must operate agri-businesses that handle food for human consumption and can be located on a farm premise.

This list includes: 

• Farmers/growers producing crops for human consumption
• Producers/ranchers raising animals for human consumption
• Packers or co-packers that handle food for human consumption
• Eligible organizations are On-Farm facilities prior to basic washing, grading and packaging.

OFFS will reimburse 70% of the cost of funding up to $7,500 for approved activities under Food Safety Improvement COVID-19.

Eligible expenses may include and are not limited to: Disposable gloves, Face masks/shields, Lab coats (re-usable), Body temperature remote sensors, thermometers and cameras, etc.

The request for supplies must be accompanied by a suitable justification and meet Health Canada and/or Canadian Food Inspection Agency policies or guidelines related to COVID-19. Applicants must also declare any other support received to ensure there is no duplication of funding. The COVID-19 related expenses are only eligible for the 2020- 2021 funding year. Applicants must disclose any other funding programs they are participating in.

For new applicants – complete the Part A Application and select ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Is this application for special PPE funding to address COVID-19 related food safety standards?’