News
Ag in brief: New Ontario ag agreement, Nuffield scholarships opening soon
March 8, 2023 by Bree Rody
Canada, Ontario sign new five-year ag agreement
Ontario farmers and its wider agri-food sector will benefit from an upcoming new, five-year agreement between the governments of Canada and Ontario. The agreement will provide a range of investments to enable the province’s ag businesses to meet goals outlined in the Grow Ontario Strategy. The governments have negotiated a Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) for Ontario that will see upwards of CAD $1.77 billion in support for the sector over the life of the agreement. Through Sustainable CAP, $569 million will be invested in strategic initiatives, which is a 25 percent increase over the previous funding agreement. There will also be roughly $1.2 billion for continued, demand-driven, business risk management supports for farmers.
Sustainable CAP will also boost investments in research and innovation and other strategic areas to strengthen the sector. The agreement will include the launch of the new Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program (RALP), a funding initiative to mitigate climate change and support the agricultural sector in better addressing sustainability outcomes.
Intake period begins for Nuffield scholarships
Nuffield Canada will accept a new intake of scholar applications from April 1 through June 30 for the 2024 scholar cohort. Applications and more information can be found at www.nuffield.ca. Nuffield Canada annually offers four to six $20,000 scholarships to mid-career men and women, who are Canadian citizens approximately aged 25 to 50, with a passion for agriculture who are ready to challenge themselves in a self-directed program of international travel and study. Unlike academic scholarships, Nuffield Scholarships are for the personal and professional benefit of those already established in the industry, while adding value to Canadian agriculture as scholars assume positions of greater influence in their fields. Scholarship recipients can come from all areas of primary production including food, fibre, health care, biofuels, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries. Recipients can come from any part of agriculture, from production to value added processing to governance or communications. They can be involved in any aspect of the industry including as owners, managers, employees, administrators, or bureaucrats, and all industry philosophies are welcome including commercial, organic, cottage, medicinal, Indigenous and others.
