AgriAssurance Program - Kosher and Halal Investment Component: 1. What this program offers

1. What this program offers

Intake period: Open

Submit your application until September 30, 2027. The intake period may close sooner if funding has been fully committed or if otherwise announced here.

The program ends March 31, 2028.

The AgriAssurance Program: Kosher and Halal Investment Component is a $2-million contribution funding program over 3 fiscal years (2025-26 to 2027-28).

Program objectives

To receive funding, your project must align with the program objectives

The AgriAssurance Program: Kosher and Halal Investment Component aims to:

support organization-led initiatives aimed at developing quality assurance systems including, facilitating information/knowledge sharing and responding to emerging consumer concerns and market demands to support the Canadian kosher and/or halal red meat sector (beef and veal)
assist the sector in better integrating kosher and/or halal slaughter practices

The program will prioritize projects that:

provide confidence to buyers and consumers regarding market attributes and quality standard claims about Canadian kosher and/or halal red meat (beef and veal) products
develop specialized guidance documentation and implementation of a systematic approach to disseminate information on kosher and/or halal slaughter practices for the Canadian red meat (beef and veal) sector

The AgriAssurance Program aims to support industry to:

develop, verify and integrate assurance systems to address market and regulatory requirements, for example:
- food safety
- plant and animal health surveillance
- animal welfare
- environmental sustainability
- traceability
- market attributes
- quality standards
enable industry to make credible, meaningful and verifiable claims about the health, safety, and quality of Canadian agriculture products

The AgriAssurance Program has 3 components:

Each component has its own application process.

Funding

Funding is available to eligible not-for-profit organizations and for-profit organizations.

If you receive funding as a not-for-profit organization, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) may contribute a total of up to $350,000 per year toward your project
If you receive funding as a for-profit organization, AAFC may contribute a total of up to $50,000 per year toward your project

Cost-sharing

Contributions toward eligible costs will normally be shared between AAFC and you as follows:

not-for-profit organizations:
- AAFC: a maximum of 75%
- You: a minimum of 25%
- Your portion of the cost-share can be a combination of both cash contributions^{Endnote 1} and in-kind contributions^{Endnote 2}
  - In-kind contributions can only account for a maximum of 10% of your cost-share.
for-profit organizations:
- AAFC: a maximum of 50%
- You: a minimum of 50%
- Your portion of the cost-share must be cash contributions;^{Endnote 1} in-kind contributions^{Endnote 2} are ineligible

Privacy notice statement – call centre

We collect personal information from callers and call centre agents to respond to inquiries regarding agriculture and agri-food sector support programs and services and to facilitate program delivery.

Please note that all calls are recorded. Calls may also be monitored by a manager through a listen-in feature, which is only used for quality assurance purposes.

The collection and use of this information is authorized under the Financial Administration Act and the applicable legislation for the program you are inquiring about, including, but not limited to, the Farm Income Protection Act.

We use personal information to:

identify you, and where required, verify your program participation
respond to your inquiry and provide guidance or services
refer your inquiry to the appropriate program official for resolution
document and manage requests and interactions
administer and deliver Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) programs
improve service delivery and internal processes
monitor call centre agent performance and adherence to call centre policies and procedures
conduct program evaluation, reporting, and quality assurance

Caller information is stored in a Government of Canada–approved cloud solution managed by a vendor under contract with AAFC, with data securely stored in Canada.

The collection of personal information is described in Standard Personal Information Bank (PIB) PSU 914 (Public Communication) and in the program-specific PIB related to the program you are inquiring about, including, but not limited to, the PIB specific to AgriStability and AgriInvest (see Net Income Stabilization Account, PIB PPU 183). Personal information is retained for 2 years and then destroyed, unless it is used for program delivery purposes, in which case it is retained in accordance with the retention period specified in the applicable program-specific PIB.

Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. To exercise these rights, you may contact the Access to Information and Privacy Office at aafc.atip-aiprp.aac@agr.gc.ca.

You also have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you believe your personal information has been handled improperly.

If you're an Indigenous applicant and would like more information about program funding, please contact the Indigenous Pathfinder Service by email at aafc.indigenouspathfinder-explorateurautochtone.aac@agr.gc.ca or telephone: 1-866-367-8506.

Notes

Note 1

A cash contribution means monetary contributions provided by your organization or to your organization by a third party, and that are used during the life of the project to pay for eligible costs for goods and/or services required to complete project activities.

Return to note 1 referrer

Note 2

In-kind means non-monetary contributions of goods or services (resources) provided by your organization or to your organization by a third party for the project, to satisfy in whole or in part your organization's contribution, and for which fair market value is assigned, but for which no payment occurs.

If your organization does not pay for goods and/or services required for a project, the values must be shown as in-kind contributions
Any in-kind contributions must be made toward eligible costs, be essential to complete project activities, achieve project results, and would otherwise have to be purchased or paid for by your organization
In-kind contributions will not be reimbursed by AAFC.

Examples of potential in-kind contributions:

Equipment you must use for the project (with a useful life in excess of 1 year and a per item cost greater than $10,000) is already owned by the applicant or was donated/loaned by a partner
An inspection required for the project, is donated without charge by a partner

Return to note 2 referrer

We reserve the right to make the final determination of the eligibility and value of in-kind contributions, to disallow expenditures, and reduce the funds. To avoid a situation where in-kind contributions may later be deemed ineligible or incorrectly valued, applicants are advised to contact AAFC program staff early in the process to confirm the eligibility and valuation of an in-kind contribution.