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Agricultural Biosecurity Program |
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Call For Proposals Issued: December 4, 2009
Proposal Deadline: January 29, 2010
The Agricultural
Biosecurity Program (ABP) flows out of the Canada-Ontario bilateral
agreement to implement Growing Forward, a
Federal-Provincial-Territorial initiative. The ABP is part of the
Best Practices Suite of programs for Growing Forward in Ontario.
The ABP is aimed at supporting Ontario’s agricultural sectors
including service and supply sectors, to address their specific
biosecurity needs through education, training, studies, and applied
pilot projects that impact at the farm level. The focus is on
initiatives that enable the sector to protect the agricultural
resource base from disease, pests, and pathogens, and reduce the
associated biological and economic risks.
The ABP will engage
industry stakeholders at the organizational level through
cost-shared funding of projects. The ABP will be administered by
the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) and is supported by
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The AAC has issued
this Call for Proposals (CFP) to solicit project proposals for
funding consideration under the ABP.
Proposals developed by eligible applicants to be funded under the
Program should contribute to the following objectives:
- Build
awareness of biosecurity risks, and build capacity in the sector to
adopt preventive measures and management practices;
- Improve the
preparedness of the agri-food sector to deal with risks;
- Increase
the level of understanding and awareness of biosecurity;
- risks/issues/measures/importance across the sector;
- Encourage key
players in the sector to promote and incorporate biosecurity
measures into their operations/activities;
- Foster
information-sharing across and/or between sector(s) to improve
biosecurity along the supply chain;
- Improve biosecurity information
available to the sector;
- and Assist sectors in preparing for
implementation of national standards as they become available.
Eligible applicants:
- Agri-food sector organizations (such as plant/crop
and livestock/poultry sectors and organizations, including
service and supply sectors) registered as a Canadian legal
entity;
- Partnerships between organizations/sectors.
Excluded from eligibility are:
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Individuals and individual businesses, public
agencies, federal or provincial departments, and academic
institutions, although these entities may be partners on the
project, with the primary applicant being eligible as outlined
above; or
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Organizations who do not meet the Terms and
Conditions included in Appendix B. Eligibility criteria:
Projects may include, but are not limited to activities
such as: the development of resource materials, industry gap
analysis, attitudinal studies, awareness workshops, assessment
studies, and applied research. All projects and project activities
must respect the overall objectives of the Program (Section 2.0) and
describe how they will meet the following criteria:
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Enhance biosecurity in the sector, reduces biologic
and related financial risks and improves related information and
awareness;
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Focus on specific opportunities or challenges
directly related to biosecurity for animals/plants;
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Have projected benefits that exceed the costs;
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Benefit the sector, and/or the province of Ontario,
as a whole;
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Be a new, innovative study/research/project that
specifically addresses a biosecurity-related need in the sector;
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Have a demonstrated impact on biosecurity at the
farm level;
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Demonstrate the economic viability and long-term
self-sufficiency of the proposal, where the nature of the
project warrants;
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Outline a knowledge transfer plan to share details
of the project and the results with stakeholders in the sector;
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Outline a plan to collect and report any information
on adoption of biosecurity measures at the farm level;
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Demonstrate direct agricultural sector financial
support and partnerships/alliances with others;
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Comply with the Canadian Environmental Assessment
Act and its regulations, if applicable for the proposed project;
and,
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Complete all activities within 24 months of the
start of the project or by September 1, 2012, whichever comes
first.
Eligible Expenditures
Direct expenditures required to implement the project
are eligible for reimbursement. These can include but are not
limited to:
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Cost of goods and services and all related
shipping and transportation costs, including but not limited to
the applicant’s: project costs, costs of developing project
materials, project communications, project advertising,
outreach/extension activities and project public notices;
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Incremental cost of services, such as salaries
and benefits, specific per diem fees of personnel working
directly on the development and delivery of the project,
including outreach/extension services;
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Incremental costs for rental or lease of
facilities, equipment or machinery;
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Costs of accommodations, telecommunications,
hospitality and travel, transportation, and postage directly
related to the project delivery, not greater than Provincial
guidelines;
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Eligible Costs incurred by applicants are
those that occur on/or after the submission dateline of the
project. For the first Funding Year, eligible costs may be
accepted retroactively to April 1, 2009 based on recommendation
from the Biosecurity Review Committee; and
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Non-reimbursable portion of the Good and
Services Tax or its successor.
Ineligible costs Expenditures that
are not eligible include but are not limited to:
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Normal overhead costs associated with carrying
out the business of the applicant and/or its partners;
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General management costs other than as noted
above under eligible expenditures;
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Costs incurred prior to the approved project
start date;
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Direct income support;
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Any costs associated with preparing and
submitting the project proposal;
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Capital costs such as the construction of
buildings, or the acquisition of land and/or equipment;
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Normal commercial expansion. (Normal
commercial expansion is defined as the acquisition of land,
labour, buildings and/or the acquisition and use of conventional
equipment/technologies for the exploitation of established
market opportunities.);
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Costs covered under any Federal and/or
Provincial and/or Municipal programs;
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Costs associated with undertaking basic
research (research aimed strictly for the advancement of
knowledge); and
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On-farm equipment or facility upgrade, unless
it is part of a demonstration or applied research project with
broad industry application.
For more information, application forms and timelines please click
on the links below.
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