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Agri-Adapt Council Inc. (AACI), Administering
CAAP in NL
Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP)
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Canadian
Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) is a five-year,
$163 million initiative with the objective of facilitating
the agriculture, agri-food, and agri-based production
and processing sectors’ ability to seize opportunities,
to respond to new and emerging issues, and to pathfind
and pilot solutions to new and ongoing issues in order
to help it adapt and remain competitive. CAAP builds
on the successes of the previous Advancing Canadian
Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) program.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s $2.8 million share is
administered by the Agri-Adapt Council Inc. over 5
years, from 2009 to 2014. CAAP invests in eligible,
industry-led projects that clearly demonstrate the
benefits to Newfoundland and Labrador’s and Canada’s
agriculture, agri-food and agri-based product sectors’
competitiveness.
CAAP Focus
- Seizing opportunities to take advantage of a situation or circumstance to develop a new idea, product, niche, or market opportunity to the benefit of the sector.
- Responding to new and emerging issues to address issues that were not of concern previously, or were not known at all.
- Pathfinding and piloting solutions to new and ongoing issues to test new ways of dealing with new issues, or find new ways to deal with existing issues.
- Pathfinding means looking at different options to prepare the sector to face the future and remain competitive.
- Piloting means the testing of ideas or approaches to see if they are effective enough to use in everyday applications in the sector.
- In order to have a greater impact on the sector, CAAP funding is targeted towards:
- Projects that have projected benefits that exceed costs.
- Applied and adaptive (not basic) research.
- Projects that analyze or test solutions and strategies to address issues and opportunities.
- Projects that test or analyze innovative products, processes or technologies.
- Regional and multi-regional projects.
- CAAP will not fund:
- Advertisement, promotion or awareness
activities that brand one region, commodity
and/or product over another.
- Information sharing and/or general awareness
activities (symposia, AGMs, tradeshows,
conferences, or speakers at general meetings)
unless they are components of a broader
project and are meant to disseminate that
project’s results.
- Normal business expansion and normal commercial
operations.
- International marketing and promotion.
- Human clinical trials.
- As CAAP is to be delivered over a five year period, all project activities must be completed by December 31, 2013 with final reports submitted no later than March 31, 2014. Any unused funds will be returned to AAFC.
- Eligible applicants are any Canadian legal entity capable of entering into a contract with Agri-Adapt Council Inc. As an industry-led initiative, federal, provincial, territorial departments/agencies, and universities and colleges are not eligible to apply directly for CAAP funding. However, in the event that university and/or government researchers are the most qualified to carry out project activities, an industry group can contract the work to those respective researchers.
- CAAP is a “contribution-based” program; clients are reimbursed for costs incurred by submitting to the Agri-Adapt Council Inc. project receipts and reports which are reviewed prior to approval.
- CAAP can invest up to 85% of a project’s total cost. Combined government (federal, provincial, municipal) contribution, including CAAP, to a project may not exceed 85% of a project’s total cost.
- Only capital expenditures that are specifically required for the execution and performance of the project are eligible. Capital expenditures cannot exceed 25% of total CAAP contribution.
- When a project’s benefits accrue to private interests
rather than the public good, recipients will be
required to repay their contribution directly
to the Federal Government. These “repayable contributions”
are not loans as no interest accrues during the
life of the project. In general, support for not-for-profits
will be approved as non-repayable contributions.
For-profit entities will receive support as repayable
contributions, unless public good is demonstrated.
To obtain more information on Agri-Adapt Council Incorporated,
other industry councils or on the CAAP program, please
visit www.agr.gc.ca
or call the AACI office at 747-4874.
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