A Montreal-based coffee maker will be among the beneficiaries of a fund aimed to boost the agrifood processing sector nationwide.
Van Houtte Inc., whose business lines include roasting, retail coffees, coffee services, coffee equipment and a chain of cafe-bistros, will get a $1.813 million loan from the AgriProcessing Initiative for its facilities.
The company has put the funds toward buying and installing two portion-pack “K-Cup” processing machines, two high-speed cartoner machines and two case packer-palletizers.
The added equipment is expected to allow the company to “increase production capacity and enter new export markets,” the federal government said in its announcement Monday.
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“This investment helped Van Houtte increase production, which in turn gives local processors more opportunities to boost their bottom line,” federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis, the federal minister of state for agriculture, said in a release.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has said over 90 per cent of the projects approved so far under the five-year, $50 million AgriProcessing Initiative have involved recipients processing Canadian agricultural inputs.
However, AAFC has also noted, Canada’s obligations to the World Trade Organization prohibit it from imposing “domestic content requirements,” meaning AgriProcessing can’t discriminate in favour of Canadian-grown ag commodities over imports.
The AgriProcessing program backs buying and installing new or “new-to-company” machinery and equipment in Canadian facilities to allow them to adopt new or new-to-company manufacturing technologies and processes.
Projects supported through the AgriProcessing Initiative must be completed by the end of March 2014.
Eligible applicants for repayable contributions from the program must be co-operatives or for-profit companies incorporated in Canada, and “predominantly engaged in the processing of raw agricultural commodities or agri-based ingredients” at facilities in Canada.
Project evaluation criteria include, but are not limited to, a recipient’s financial capacity to finance the project and repay the contribution, the use of agricultural commodities and agri-based ingredients, the project’s “technical feasibility” and benefits to Canada such as job creation.
