On-Farm Value-Added Program

Who can apply

To be eligible, an applicant must:

1. Be a primary producer: responsible for the day-to-day management and work of a crop, bee or livestock operation.
2. Be an individual, corporation, partnership or co-operative registered in Alberta that is operating a crop, bee or livestock operation in Alberta, or that can establish to the satisfaction of the minister that it will operate one in Alberta.
3. Be responsible for input costs for crops, bees or livestock.
4. Produce at least $25,000 worth of commercial agriculture production annually.
5. Not be a landlord whose only interest in the crop, bee, or livestock operation is ownership of the land.
6. At the time of application, not be a Processor, and be adding value past harvest or slaughter of the agricultural product.
7. Not have an active application to, or have received funding from, another Sustainable CAP program (including the Value-Added Program, Growing Greenhouses Program or Emerging Opportunities Program) for the same expenses or for activities with substantially the same outcomes.
8. Request at least $1,000 (applications for projects with a funding request under $1,000 are not accepted).
9. Apply only once per program fiscal year (April 1 to March 31), under either Stream A or Stream B.
10. The Minister may approve an Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) applicant even though it does not meet requirements 1 or 2.

Not eligible to apply:

1. Processors.
2. Industry organizations.
3. Applied research organizations.
4. Post-secondary institutions.
5. Federal, provincial and municipal governments, agencies and institutions, and similar organizations funded in whole or in part by government.
6. Retail businesses, restaurants and food establishments, including commercial kitchens, food trucks and cafeterias.

Project activities must:

1. Be in respect of a value-added product that the applicant produces (or will produce) in Alberta, or, for a contract packager/manufacturer, packages (or will package) in Alberta.
2. Be a type of activity listed in the Funding List (processing capacity expansion; food safety improvement; new product and process development; market development and access).
3. Result in the marketing of the applicant's value-added product(s) through wholesale distribution channels to arm's length customers (e.g., to retail or to food service), and not sell exclusively through an on-premises or single company-owned retail outlet.
4. Be part of a project whose start date is no more than 90 calendar days after the date of the application.
5. Be part of a project for which the applicant has, by the time of application, secured at least 50% of the required investment.
6. Be completed, with all associated eligible expenses paid in full, by the end of the Project Term (January 1, 2026 through March 15, 2027).

Not eligible activities:

1. Cleaning, bagging, sorting, handling and/or storing of primary products.
2. Construction of walls, floors, ceilings or ancillary buildings.
3. Labels and packaging design that is not part of a New Product and Process Development activity.
4. Advertising.
5. Promotions (e.g., coupons, rebates, product giveaways).
6. Activities associated with aquaculture, aquaponics or seafood processing, except international marketing of fish and seafood products.
7. Activities supporting province-specific branding, promotion or marketing that is detrimental to another province or territory.