Complete the application and apply

A complete application includes the Expression of Interest form and the full application.

Expression of Interest form

Your Expression of Interest form should be submitted online. If you would like to contact a program representative, please email aafc.fhp-pca.aac@agr.gc.ca.

The Expression of Interest form has 7 sections. Complete each section.

Project title
Project description
Project start date
Project end date
Project information
Requested Government of Canada funding
Primary contact

Project title

Provide a short, descriptive project title that accurately reflects your project activities and outcomes.

Project description

Provide a brief project description, identifying the nature of your project.

Project start date

Confirm the expected start date for your project.

Project end date

Confirm the expected end date of your project; the date for which all project activities will be completed and expenses paid.

Project information

Provide the following:

Please provide a summary of your project. Your summary should include the following:
- Identify how your project will increase the availability of domestically grown food
- Identify the services you would provide (for example, food production, processing, aggregation, storage and/or distribution)
- Identify the status of your project (for example, early development or shovel-ready)
- Identify the geographic area covered by the proposed project (distribution range for the food terminal or hub)
Please identify whether you are looking to expand an existing operation or establish a new one
Please identify how you will demonstrate the long-term viability of your project. Will your project be able to continue to operate independent of Government of Canada funding? Key elements could include:
- Financial and operational sustainability (a credible path to break even, diversified revenue streams, realistic throughput projections)
- Governance and organizational capacity
- Implementation timeline
- Alignment with local or regional food security priorities
Please detail how this project will contribute to Canada's national food security and the priorities detailed in the National Food Security Strategy
Please provide a brief summary of each activity within your project
Identify who will carry out the proposed work. If not completed solely by your organization, provide a description of other parties and their involvement in undertaking the project
Identify total estimated cost of your project and detail how much funding you are requesting from the Government of Canada, and how much will be provided directly by the applicant/other sources of funding/partners and whether this funding is confirmed or pending
Please describe any partners also involved in this project including other levels of Government (federal, provincial/territorial and municipal). Will any of these partners be contributing funds toward the project?
Identify what evidence (data, community consultations, market analysis) supports the need for this food terminal or hub
If possible at this stage, provide a summary of how you will demonstrate market demand. Possible elements include:
- Evidence of committed producer supply (letters of intent, existing relationships) and committed buyer demand (retailers, institutions, restaurants)
- A defined, realistic service area and evidence to support the boundary area(s)
- Assessment of whether existing distributors, wholesalers, or retailers already partially serve this need, and what the terminal or hub adds
- Seasonality planning (many regions have production gaps for parts of the year, how would a terminal or hub sustain operations through those periods?)

Requested Government of Canada funding

Provide the total estimated funding you are requesting from the Government of Canada, based on your project's estimated total expenses and the program's cost-share ratios.

Primary contact

First name
Last name
Title
Primary phone number
Email address
Language of correspondence

Full application

After you submit your Expression of Interest form, you may be invited to submit a full application.

Note: AAFC uses the information you give in the application form to determine if your project is eligible.

The application form has 10 sections. Complete each section.

1. Project information
2. Organization or business
3. Project team
4. Activities
5. Funding Sources
6. Budget summary
- Sources of funding
- Total government funding
- Budget summary by activity
7. Documents
8. Contacts
- Primary contact
- Project contact
9. Declarations
- Unpaid debts to the Government of Canada
10. Review and submit
- Privacy notice statement
- Lobbying activities
- Conflicts of interest
- Acknowledgements

Documents you must submit with your project application form

After you submit your Expression of Interest form, you may be invited to submit a project application form. You must include the following documents for a complete application.

Required: Detailed project budget
A spreadsheet provided at the application stage for you to give the estimated fair value of the activity costs entered in the online application. Many of the calculations in the spreadsheet are automated and protected to help avoid errors.
Required: Organization's Certificate or Articles of Incorporation
Certificates and Articles of Incorporation are issued and filed, respectively, by or with provincial, territorial or federal government that document the applicant's status as a legal entity.
Note: Not required for First Nations Communities/Governments, Band Councils and Tribal Councils. Additional options for other Indigenous Communities/Governments applicants include:
- Director's Resolution
- Self-Government Agreement or Modern Treaty Agreement
- legal document stating that your organization is a legal entity
Required: Completed business plan
The business plan must demonstrate market need/demand and/or research data, willingness and capacity to implement the project, and viability of a long-term food hub.
Business plan outline
The business plan should cover the following sections and content:
1. Table of Contents (to include in your business plan)
2. Applicant Profile
  1. Provide a brief description and history of the applicant including:
    - Primary lines of business and mandates
    - Summary of growth of the business
    - Total number of employees
    - Listing and location of facilities
    - Current organizational structure (including chart indicating names and titles of the management team)
    - Organizational objectives
    - Key alliances, stakeholders, suppliers, and customers
    - Major accomplishments
  2. Corporate Structure:
    - Provide a diagram of the corporate structure of the applicant including parent and subsidiary companies and their interrelationships. The diagram should be annotated to indicate respective mandates and ownership trail
  3. Shareholders:
    - List shareholders with more than a 10% share of the applicant and include their share ownership
  4. Board of Directors/Advisory Board:
    - Provide a list and the qualifications of the members of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board if applicable
  5. Company Status:
    - Ensure a copy of the company's Certificate or Articles of Incorporation and copies of any partnership or other agreements pertaining to/impacting the proposed project are provided in the application
    - If part of a consortium of companies, or an organization representing companies or an association of companies, provide a copy of the legal agreement between members
3. Strategic Plan
  - Provide a description of the company's overall business strategy
  - Identify the long-term plan for the business — where you want the business to be 5 years from now (vision)
  - Outline the steps that will be taken to get there
  - Describe how the proposed project will fit into and improve the applicant's business, help to address challenges being faced by the applicant and the sector, and improve competitiveness and environmental sustainability
4. Financial Status, Project Financing Plan, and Projections
  1. Financial Status:
    - Provide a brief summary of the company's financial situation and recent trends
    - Ensure copies of the company's annual financial statements (audited if available) for the past two years or since the date of business start-up, the latest interim (audited or unaudited) financial statements, and, if applicable, the most recent annual report or audited financial statements of the parent company or principal owner. For diversified organizations, the financial statements of the division or branch directing the project must also be included
  2. Project Financing Plan:
    - The proposal must demonstrate that the applicant possesses, or can reasonably be expected to secure, the financial resources needed to complete the project
    - List all anticipated sources of funds, including, but not limited to shareholder/corporate sources, external sources, internal cash flow, government sources of financial assistance received, or likely to be received, from federal, provincial and municipal governments, etc. This information should clearly distinguish between existing/negotiated sources of funding and planned or potential sources
    - Please attach a copy of any financing agreements in place
    - Identify special conditions attached to any of the above source(s) of funding
  3. Financial Projections:
    - Provide figures of the incremental revenues and expenses resulting from the project for a period of 10 years
  4. Need for Contribution:
    - Applicants must demonstrate that funding support for the project is necessary and justified
    - Describe the level of market and/or financial risk affecting the project and the impact on the planned scope and timing of the project
  5. Risk:
    - Identify key financial project risks and the mitigation strategies
5. Market Analysis
  1. Describe:
    - The industry within which the applicant operates
    - The market in which the applicant participates including key competitors and competing products/services
    - The applicant's products and services, how it plans to promote them, its key customers, and how it plans to maintain and/or increase its market share and/or penetrate new markets
    - The market opportunity the company plans to exploit for its new products or services
    - The regulatory issues, if any, of introducing the new products or services in each of the target markets
    - The applicant's production and distribution strategy, including manufacturing timing and location, if applicable
  2. Risk:
    - Describe the key market/commercial risks and mitigation strategies
6. Management, HR, Technical, and Operational Capacity
  Proposals must show that the applicant possesses, or can reasonably be expected to secure, the necessary managerial, HR, technical and operational capabilities to achieve the stated objectives and benefits to Canada of the proposed project.
  1. Management:
    - Describe the management team, their areas of responsibility and experience
    - Provide information on professionals assisting the business
  2. Project Team:
    - Describe the project team, including available technical resources, responsible for undertaking the project, their areas of responsibility and experience
  3. Sales and Marketing:
    - Describe the team responsible for sales and marketing, their areas of responsibility and experience
  4. Facilities and Operations:
    - Describe the facility and its production capacity. If the project is expected to result in an increase in production capacity/scale up, describe how this will be achieved
  5. Risk:
    - Describe the key management, HR, technical and operational capacity risks and mitigation strategies
Required: Organizational chart
Chart to indicate names and titles of the management team.
Required, if applicable: Diagram of your organization's corporate structure
Diagram to include parent and subsidiary companies and their interrelationships and mandates.
Required, as applicable: Audited or Reviewed Engagement Financial statements
Statements for the past 2 years or since the date of business start-up where the business is less than 2 years old including latest interim financial statements.
Financial statements to include an income statement, a balance sheet, cash flow statement and the most recent interim financial statements.
Required, as applicable: Signed copies of all financing agreements and/or letters of support related to the project financing plan
Documentation that provide financial proof of funds
- Term sheets
- Confirmation of debt or equity closing and funds availability
- Bank statements (to verify cash availability)
- Attestation from corporate officers of funds availability
Third party funding cannot be conditional on AAFC program acceptance.
Required: Quotes, estimates and/or contracts
Documents supporting the costs of the project budget provided by supplier for all construction, renovations or equipment and technology to be purchased and installed.
Required, as applicable: Copies of all regulatory permits and/or patents required to undertake the project
Any permit that addressed required regulatory issues and/or patents filings required related to the project.
Federal, provincial, territorial or municipal authorizations or permits required to complete this project and any documentation that may be required pursuant to the Impact Assessment Act.
Required as applicable: Copy of any inter-company or other agreements impacting the proposed project
Documents used to define how sales or transfers of goods and services by businesses owned by the same company are handled.
If applicable: Alternative proof of legal status for Indigenous organizations
A copy of a Band Council Resolution (BCR), a Tribal Council Resolution (TCR), a Director's Resolution (DR), or legal document stating they are a legal entity can be accepted as proof the applicant is a legal entity.

Annex A: Eligible costs

This annex details eligible costs and limitations under this program. Use the following information to complete your project budget during the application stage. AAFC may periodically change the requirements outlined in this annex.

AAFC will only fund project-related expenditures that are pertinent, reasonable and essential to accomplish the objectives of an approved project and that fall under the following cost categories:

Capital expenditures

Capital expenditures — eligible cost items

Capital expenditures are for tangible assets such as buildings, expansion and modernization of existing facilities, equipment, materials and supplies, commercial vehicles/machinery, specialized software, including point-of-sale (POS) platforms, that are purchased, constructed or otherwise acquired and:

are directly required for the execution of the project's activities (such as used in the collection, aggregation, processing, storing, quality control, packing, selling, distribution and/or transportation of food from producers to markets)
are not intended for resale in the ordinary course of operations
the cost of which is considered to include the purchase price plus other acquisition costs, such as installation costs, freight charges, transportation insurance costs and duties
have a useful life in excess of 1 year and a per item or cumulative cost greater than $10,000

Contracted services

Contracted services — Eligible cost items

Professional or specialized services for which a contract is entered into such as:

consultant/expert services
project management to plan and undertake activities

Contracted services — Limitations/Explanations

All services with a contractor should be established under a contract, which should include payment terms and deliverables (such as description, due dates, detailed budgets)
All services with a contractor should be directly related to the execution of the project's activities (such as used in the collection, aggregation, processing, storing, quality control, packing, selling, distribution and/or transportation of food from producers to markets)
Recipients must use a fair and competitive or otherwise justifiable and generally accepted sound business process that results in competent and qualified contractors working on the project
Materials developed for activities carried out in a domestic establishment in Canada must be available in French and English
Overhead costs cannot exceed 15% of total other eligible costs invoiced
Contractor invoices must contain sufficient details to establish the nature of the expenses and alignment with the contract signed
Contracts for project management and administration services (other than to undertake project activities) may be used, however, these costs will be considered administrative costs (included in the 10% flat rate and not eligible for additional reimbursement)

Salaries and benefits

Salaries and benefits — Eligible cost items

Salaries and benefits paid to or on behalf of staff to execute activities outlined in the project work plan, other than those covered under administrative costs. The salaries and benefits costs do not include completing the application or completing financial or performance reports for the project.

Includes Mandatory Employment Related Costs (MERCs), Employment Insurance (EI), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), vacation pay and benefits
Benefits mean payments an employer is required to make by virtue of company policy or a collective agreement such as contributions to a group pension plan

Salaries and benefits — Limitations/Explanations

Salaries and benefits must be additional to existing costs
Costs must be substantiated through supporting documentation, such as timesheets
Timesheets must be maintained for employees who work less than 100% of their time on the project. If your application is successful, you should expect to complete timesheets for employees working on the project
Timesheets will not be required for people under contract
For further clarification, salary and benefit costs do not include incentive amounts such as performance pay (for example, bonuses), or discretionary employee benefits (such as a gym membership or parking allowance)
Severances are not eligible
Benefit costs must not exceed 25% of the eligible salary costs for each employee who works on the project
Other restrictions may apply

Administrative costs

Administrative costs — Eligible cost items

Administrative costs are defined as the organization's expenses (such as fundamental operational costs) not directly related to undertaking the project activities but necessary for the organization to manage activities outlined in the work plan and to administer the reporting requirements of the contribution agreement, including project management costs.

Administrative fees will be limited to 10% of the total eligible costs and will be subject to the cost-sharing ratio.

Administrative costs include, but are not limited to the costs related to:

administrative office supplies and expenses
- basic telephone fees (including fax lines) and cell phones
- hydro
- materials and office supplies (for example, pens, pencils, paper, envelopes, cleaning supplies, subscriptions)
- monthly internet fees
- postage and courier fees
- office equipment (for example, computers, printers, photocopiers)
- office space (rent) and related utilities and maintenance
administrative information technology (IT) products and services, including maintenance
other overhead type expenditures relating to the organization's office

Administrative costs — Limitations/Explanations

You may also choose to not claim administrative costs and opt out of the flat rate
To ease administrative burden, these costs do not need to be detailed at the time of application and will not be negotiated or need to be validated when submitting a claim
These costs will be funded at the approved program cost-share ratio and will be calculated as part of the financial reports

Other direct costs

Other direct costs — Eligible cost items

Feasibility studies and supply chain mapping that include operational improvements
Rental, lease of equipment or machinery
Goods and services and all related shipping and transportation costs
Materials/consumables needed to undertake the project
Other reasonable costs specifically related to project activities, at the discretion of AAFC

Other direct project costs — Limitations/Explanations

Other direct project costs are specifically required for the project. They do not include costs such as the normal costs of establishing a commercial operation, or that are deemed to be part of normal business practice for any recipient