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Canada and Ontario committing up to $7.5 million to support biosecurity measures to enhance food safety

The Biosecurity Enhancement Initiative (BEI) is a new, cost-share offering that will help farmers, food processors, and other essential farm-supporting agri-food businesses protect their operations against disease, enhance operational resilience and heighten public trust in the food supply system.

This initiative will be available to entities such as veterinary clinics, livestock auction barns and commingling facilities, grain elevators, seed treatment facilities, and transportation providers. Examples of eligible projects include establishing or improving cleaning practices, creating isolation facilities, constructing wash bays for disinfecting and training to support the mitigation of biosecurity risks in food production.

Under the BEI, the maximum amount of funding available and the proportion of cost-share funding for projects depends on the activity supported. This initiative was developed following discussions with agri-food sector businesses and organizations.

Sustainable CAP is a five-year (2023-2028), $3.5-billion investment by federal‐provincial and territorial governments to strengthen competitiveness, innovation, and resiliency of the agriculture, agri‐food, and agri‐based products sector. 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 the provinces and territories.