For farmers looking to go green, upgrading their infrastructure can be costly upfront. There are government grants and industry incentive programs to help with costs, but it can be difficult for farmers to identify which programs are available and assess which would be the best fit for them.
That’s where the Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food (CANZA) Marketplace comes in: a digital hub that provides farmers with educational resources and funding opportunities, helping them navigate a fragmented system.
The program was developed to reduce the risk for farmers investing in green infrastructure and connect them with companies, governments, and investors to advance climate-smart agriculture across Canada.
“We have built out a knowledge hub and a searchable directory for farmers who are interested in trying climate-smart or regenerative agriculture practices. Right now, there exists in the industry a lot of really great programming and funding opportunities related to work in that space, but the landscape is really fragmented,” said Andrea Gal, the director of CANZA and the lead of data and marketplace strategy.
The aim of the marketplace program is to reduce barriers to farmers’ participation in climate-smart agriculture programs by making it easier for them to find existing programs.
“I’ve had members of my team who’ve been doing a pretty deep dive in terms of research and program that exists in the industry, and they’ve been working together very closely in terms of outreach to those program administrators to make sure that we’ve got the core information about the program and are keeping it up to date, so really working collaboratively with those other program administrators across the province to be helping to promote the great initiatives that exist in the industry,” said Gal.
Farmers interested can create a free account for Marketplace to explore available funding programs.
“We’ve built up the searchable directory to have it so that farmers have different ways of accessing and exploring. I also farm with my family in Oxford County. Thinking a little bit about my family operation, I can go into the searchable directory and say, “OK, I farm in Oxford County. I’m particularly interested in the adoption of practices directly in the field, and I grow grain and oil seeds, and I’ve got a cattle operation.’ And then the marketplace would say to me, ‘Hey, well, there’s this short list of programs that you could take a closer look at that kind of fit your initial search parameters,’” said Gal.
The program officially launched its first phase in Ontario in late May and focuses specifically on the agricultural and corn-belt regions of Ontario. The ultimate goal is to make the digital platform national.
“We’re continuing to bring out additional functionality in the public facing marketplace to improve the options that are available to users. In terms of that measuring and monitoring, or that quantification space, we’re now starting to layer on the approach to measuring and quantifying biodiversity benefits and water quality, so we can help farmers understand the benefits that they’re bringing in that space as well.”
For more information, visit canzamarketplace.ca.
