IAFBC — Traceability Adoption Program (TAP)

• Supporting documents such as supplier quotes and documents with links to relevant websites.
• Other documents that support your requested activities and costs.

Who is eligible?

• Stream 1: agriculture, food, or seafood businesses such as producers, transporters, packagers, harvesters, warehouses, importers, processors, distributors, and exporters.
• Stream 2: sector organizations in agriculture, food or seafood sectors.
• Stream 2: cooperatives, industry associations, boards or councils, or other non-profit agriculture, food or seafood organizations legally incorporated as provincial entities in British Columbia.

Who is not eligible

• Stream 1: sector organizations.
• Stream 1: health and/or nutrition supplement processing/handling operations, pet food processing/handling operations, and restaurants or other food service operations.
• Stream 2: national sector organizations and non-BC based members of these organizations.
• Stream 2: tobacco and tobacco product producer, manufacturer, or processor organizations.
• Stream 2: pet food producer, manufacturer, processor, or related facility organizations; health and/or nutrition supplement processor organizations; food charity or food rescue and recovery organizations; and private for-profit businesses.

Eligible expenses

• Consultant fees for assessing, planning and/or implementing the project, including developing or improving recall plans and conducting recall exercises for the newly implemented traceability system.
• Purchase and installation of hardware for traceability systems, including livestock tag readers, RFID or barcode readers, label printers, on-site database and web servers, and wireless or wired connectivity within the enterprise.
• Purchase, licensing (subscription) and installation of traceability software to gather, store, process, report, and track information, including for Livestock Tag Readers.
• Staff training by vendor or approved accredited third-party consultant to implement traceability systems.
• Incremental costs for multi-use electronic devices; custom software development and installation that enhances the traceability needs of a business or sector; first time (initial) registration fee for GS1 Canada for a unique company prefix number.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• GST and in-kind expenses.
• Capital costs such as vehicles, furnishings, land, and buildings.
• Equipment purchased and/or facility modifications intended to increase capacity.
• Project consisting solely of multi-use electronic device purchase; software maintenance and updates; software development project plans not relevant to the traceability system.
• GS1 Canada subscription fees; taxes and duty or shipping costs; costs inherent in the day-to-day operations of the business or ongoing maintenance; consumables including livestock ear tags, labels, printer ink, load bars, and livestock handling systems; purchase of multi-purpose or commonly used equipment such as computer hardware/software, digital cameras, and GPS; drainage activities for non-traceability use; purchases made before receiving the approval decision and funding approval letter.

• Livestock and Seafood & Aquaculture sector applications and Stream 2 applications are prioritized until their funding targets are met.
• After the targets are reached, remaining program funds are adjudicated on a first-come, first-served basis until available funds are fully committed.
• Applications may be assessed by a technical expert to ensure viability and reasonableness.

• Create a personal profile in the IAF Client Portal and provide your organization’s information for validation.
• Select the Traceability Adoption Program from Funding Opportunities and provide the required project-specific information, BC Premises ID if applicable, demographic information, traceability information, stream, activities, costs, supporting documents, funding request/project budget, and BC Corporate Registry.
• Submit the application through the IAF Client Portal.

• Applications are screened and reviewed by IAF after submission, and some applications may also be reviewed by a technical expert.
• Incomplete applications may be returned through the IAF Client Portal for resubmission with missing information or clarifications requested.
• IAF emails funding decisions within 8 weeks of a complete application submission, and all decisions regarding application status are final.
• If approved, the applicant receives the decision and any associated terms and conditions by email; approved projects may begin on or after June 2, 2026, and must be completed within three months of approval or by January 31, 2027, whichever is first. Custom Software Development must be completed within 6 months of approval or by January 31, 2027, whichever is first.
• Successful applicants must complete a project report before receiving funds, submit it with all invoices, and retain project documentation for up to three years; projects may be audited.