AgriRisk Initiatives Program now available

With Canada’s agriculture and agri-food system contributing $110 billion to the country’s economy, risk management plays an important role in the sector.

Recently, the federal government announced continued support for the development of new tools that reflect the changing nature of Canada’s agricultural business.

Agriculture risk management helps stabilize farmers’ incomes, strengthens farm businesses and encourages growth within the agriculture sector. Building on the Growing Forward 2 program, the AgriRisk Initiatives (ARI) Program has been renewed under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

The ARI program is designed to support the development of risk management tools used in Canada’s agricultural industry. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay recently announced the $55 million program will encourage partnerships between the industry, stakeholders, researchers and various forms of government to proactively explore and develop new risk management products and services for the agricultural sector.

“Canada’s hard-working farmers constantly face volatility and unpredictability in their business. Our Government is launching this renewed AgriRisk program to help protect our hardworking farmers from the risks they face so they can continue to grow the economy and create good, wellpaying jobs. This announcement responds to what we heard from the external advisory panel on business risk management,” said MacAulay.

Funding from the program is available under two components: research and development and administrative capacity building. Priority will be given to proposals for industry-led projects to develop new and innovative business risk management tools. The research and development component provides funding for potential new private sector or industry-led tools to assist in addressing risks. Applications under this component are available and will be accepted until Sept. 28.

A new component under research and development is the ARI Program Micro Grants. These grants will provide up to $25,000 per year in funding for academic research proposals that explore the development of alternative risk management tools or, propose different ways to address issues with existing Business Risk Management programs.

The Administrative Capacity Building is designed to aid in the delivery of new risk management tools. Applications are available and being accepted.