Product and Market Development Program — Agricultural Industry Organizations

• The applicant must be an agricultural producer, a small or medium-sized agri-business, a small or medium-sized agri-processor, a Mi’kmaq First Nation or other Indigenous group, or an agriculture industry organization, club or association; other types of applicants may be considered upon request.
• The project must focus on product and/or market development for agricultural or agri-food products, such as value-added processing, market development activities or commercialization of new products, technologies, practices or processes.
• The proposed activities must provide a direct benefit to the agriculture sector.
• The applicant must submit a complete application to the PEI Department of Agriculture for assessment.

Who is eligible?

• Agricultural producers
• Small to medium-sized agri-businesses
• Small to medium-sized agri-processors
• Agriculture industry organizations, clubs, and associations
• Mi’kmaq First Nations and other Indigenous groups involved in agriculture

Who is not eligible

• Businesses whose main activities are aquaponic food production, or aquaculture, seaweed, fish and seafood production and processing (except when the project concerns international marketing or traceability activities for fish and seafood).
• Organizations whose projects are focused on developing or enforcing regulations (regulatory bodies or similar entities).
• Entities seeking support for activities that provide tax credits or rebates as their main purpose.
• Companies whose projects relate to local branding initiatives that could create competition with another Canadian province or territory (these are assessed case by case and may be deemed ineligible).

Eligible expenses

• Purchase of machinery and equipment, including equipment to process, package and label (including nutritional labelling) a new product.
• Travel and transportation costs for investigative trips to new or emerging markets and for incoming buyer missions from export markets.
• Professional services, consulting fees and business coaching related to market research, value chain development, commercialization and adoption of new products, technologies, practices or processes.
• Research and feasibility studies for exploring new or emerging markets and for assessing product delivery.
• Hands-on mentoring and training on logistics for delivering products from farm gate to market.
• Translation and legal consultation costs linked to marketing a product in a new market.
• Marketing plan development costs and consulting services analyzing new and emerging market trends and opportunities in Canada or abroad.
• Costs related to new product development such as process development, recipe development (food trials, testing and consultant fees), analytical and quality testing.
• Design and first printing of packaging, including brand development activities.
• Design and first printing of promotional materials and expenses for focus groups used to develop product attributes.

Eligible geographic areas

• Businesses and organizations located in Prince Edward Island, Canada, as the program is administered by the PEI Department of Agriculture.

• Applications are assessed on a first come, first served basis for their merit.
• Applications are assessed on a first come, first served basis for their impact.
• Projects with demonstrable links to increasing public trust may receive additional funding consideration.
• Projects that demonstrate benefits and impacts to more than one Atlantic province may be eligible for regional funding.

• Approved projects that clearly contribute to increasing public trust in agriculture may qualify for additional funding under the Sustainable CAP framework.
• Initiatives demonstrating benefits for more than one Atlantic province can be considered for regional collaboration support.
• Program performance is monitored on an ongoing basis and a full evaluation is planned to determine whether objectives are being met and to inform potential renewal.
• Sustainable CAP programs are intended to be accessible to all eligible Canadians, with specific consideration given to the needs of under‑represented groups such as Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and persons with disabilities in program design.