“Through Growing Forward 2, our Government has committed to helping our agricultural industry position itself to take advantage of future opportunities, respond to challenges, and continue to be a productive and profitable sector of the Canadian economy.” said Mr Lemieux.

“Bringing the farming industry and the private sector together to develop new agricultural risk management tools will result in our farmers having more and better ways to manage the risks of farming.”

The announcement was made at the second annual International Agricultural Risk, Finance and Insurance Conference. The AgriRisk Initiatives program will facilitate industry-led research and development, as well as implementation and administration of new insurance-based tools for use in the agriculture, agri-food and agri-products sector.

AgriRisk Initiatives (ARI) projects are intended to foster greater collaboration and partnership between agricultural stakeholder groups and the private sector, and to increase participation of the private sector financial services industry in providing risk management tools to the agricultural sector.

Applications for ARI research and development (R&D) project funding are now being accepted. Through ARI, the federal government will allocate up to C$3 million per year over five years to fund R&D projects on potential new, industry-led risk management products and services.

Approved R&D projects can be eligible for up to C$500,000 in support per year. Typical activities eligible for funding include: research and development costs, data collection and analysis, legal and actuarial costs, and consultations. For more information on AgriRisk Initiatives and to apply online, click here.

Additional ARI support to help build private sector administrative capacity to deliver new agricultural risk management tools will be announced in the summer.