CFFO Highlight Key Changes in Growing Forward 2
Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario Discusses Ag Policy Changes in Weekly Commentary
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) said that farmers should make note of some important changes of the non-business risk management component of Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a policy framework for Canada’s agricultural sector. In CFFO’s weekly commentary, it says that while GF2 includes programs that farmers are familiar with, there are also some notable changes as well.
The following are some of the main changes:
• The days of being first in line for funding are over. The shift has moved to a merit-based approach, which will examine groups of projects, which will be one of the deciding factors to determine if a project will receive funding.
• Taking workshops to qualify for funding will no longer be required. However, farmers who have completed one within the last five years will receive higher priority in the evaluation process of a proposal.
• Capping of funding support is changing from limiting funding on a project to a new calculation limit on financial support based on the total support throughout the entire programming over 5-years.
• There are new limits on how much can be given to capital improvements, which aims to provide flexibility to where a farm business can make improvements over time. Farmers wishing to apply for this will have to provide a strong case for the benefits of these improvements.
CFFO praises the non-business risk management side of Growing Forward 2, saying that a merit-based approach is a positive change.