At a special meeting held earlier this week, the CIFST Board of Directors approved a motion to support a brand new initiative by the association to form an agri-food research cluster. This industry led cluster would be for a period of five years commencing in 2023 and funding for the cluster would come from the Agrifood and Agriculture (AAFC) AgriScience Cluster 4 (2023 - 2028) Program

There are 2 components to the Program:

AgriScience – Clusters component: Proposals are intended to mobilize industry, government and academia through partnerships, and address priority themes and horizontal issues that are national in scope.

AgriScience – Projects component: A single project or a smaller set of projects that would be less comprehensive than a Cluster.

If approved, support is available in the form of non-repayable contributions and/or collaborative support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) research scientists.

The AgriScience Program under the New Policy Framework includes three Priority Areas, which align with the core elements of the Guelph Statement (from the Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministerial Meeting held in November 2021). The three priority areas are:

• Climate Change & Environment
• Economic Growth & Development
• Sector Resilience & Societal Challenges

The window for CIFST to form a Food Cluster will be narrow as we only became involved very recently. Within the next couple of weeks, CIFST will be announcing a Call for Proposals.

Please watch your inbox for more information.