The Ontario and federal governments have pledged over $3 million in Growing Forward funds for a program to educate the province’s farmers on the benefits of on-farm biosecurity.
The new Agricultural Biosecurity Program is expected to engage industry stakeholder organizations across livestock, poultry and crop production as well as the service and supply sectors, the province said in a release Thursday.
Ontario’s Agricultural Adaptation Council will deliver the program, the province said. Further details weren’t yet available Thursday on the AAC website.
Organizations eligible under the program would be invited to submit proposals for “sector-level” initiatives meant to increase awareness and uptake of biosecurity measures, or to otherwise improve the level of biosecurity in their industry across the province.
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Successful proposals would involve “education, training, studies, and applied pilot projects to address specific biosecurity needs at the farm level.”
Such projects could include, but are not limited to, activities such as the development of resource materials, industry gap analysis, “attitudinal” studies, awareness workshops, assessment studies, and applied research.
The province added that proposals developed by eligible applicants to be funded under the program should help improve biosecurity information available to the sector, build capacity to adopt preventive measures and management practices, and help sectors to prepare for implementation of national standards as they become available.
Any Canadian agri-food organization, or partnership between organizations and related industry associations or companies is eligible to apply for funding under the Agricultural Biosecurity Program, the province said.
Getting funds under this program involves taking part in a competitive call for proposals, subject to annual funding allocations, as well as meeting “stated eligibility criteria,” the province added.
“This program will help farmers stay on the cutting edge of good biosecurity practices — ensuring the health of their animals, sustainability of their farm business and strength of the industry as a whole,” Chatham-Kent-Essex MP Dave Van Kesteren said in a release Thursday.
“Improved biosecurity measures protect herd and plant health and promote the economic viability of the farm and the agri-food sector,” provincial Ag Minister Leona Dombrowsky said in the same release.
“Taking precautions to prevent disease from coming onto farms is one of the best investments producers can make.”
