MRC La Matapédia — Program for Restoring Underutilized Agricultural Lands 2023-2025

• The applicant must be a private business or a non-profit organization that holds a valid agricultural identification number (NIM) as a farm operator, or a beneficiary NIM accompanied by a business plan covering at least 3 years.
• The applicant must own or lease agricultural land located in the MRC de La Matapédia, in a permanent agricultural zone, that has been unused and not maintained, cultivated or used for other agricultural purposes for at least 5 years.
• The land targeted by the project must either have an agronomic characterization confirming its potential for recultivation, or be listed in the MAPAQ inventory and then characterized by an agronomist.
• The project must restore at least 1 hectare of underutilized agricultural land and enable the land to generate agricultural revenues within 3 years after the work (except for fruit orchard projects).
• The applicant must provide a viable business plan (for start-ups) or cropping plan (for existing farms) and commit to financing the portion of project costs not covered by this or other funding programs.

Who is eligible?

• Private agricultural enterprises holding or planning to hold farm operations on underutilized agricultural land in the MRC de La Matapédia
• Non-profit organizations (NPOs) carrying out agricultural projects on underutilized agricultural land in the MRC de La Matapédia

Eligible expenses

• Costs directly related to restoring underutilized agricultural land, including clearing, deforestation, brush removal, shredding/chipping, soil decompaction and soil preparation (up to 50% of total work costs and up to $2,500 per hectare).
• Expenses incurred by the farming operation for the use of its own machinery to carry out the land restoration work (up to 50% of total work costs).
• Rental of machinery for tree and shrub cutting, shredding woody material and soil work, including transportation of machinery to the site.
• External labour costs for carrying out the restoration work on the land.
• Professional fees of an agronomist for characterizing the agronomic potential and condition of the land, up to $500 per producer.

Eligible geographic areas

• Businesses with agricultural land located within the territory of the MRC de La Matapédia, in Quebec.
• Agricultural land situated in the permanent agricultural zone of the MRC de La Matapédia.

• Projects are evaluated using a scored selection grid specifically developed for this program.
• If available funds are insufficient to support all applications, projects with the highest scores on the selection grid are prioritized.
• Projects that enable the return to cultivation of several parcels or blocks of land receive additional points in the evaluation.

• The total program budget is $200,000 and funding is available for projects carried out in 2023, 2024 and 2025, or until funds are exhausted.
• Only costs incurred after written acceptance of the financial assistance by the MRC are recognized, with the exception of a prior agronomic characterization needed for eligibility.
• Project results and conclusions must be made available to the MRC and the monitoring committee to enhance knowledge on restoring unused agricultural land.
• Projects must start, including committing expenditures, no later than 9 months after acceptance to remain eligible for reimbursement.