On March 1, Marie-Claude Bibeau, minister of agriculture and agri-food, announced funding of up to $770,000 for the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA) to support market development for organic products.
The funding will help create domestic and international export opportunities and promote the “Canada Organic” brand. The project includes the development of market activities at major food shows in Germany and the United States, with additional activities related to market accessibility and technical assessments.
“Canada’s organic industry is one of our fastest growing sectors,” Bibeau said. “Supporting the market development for organic products will further contribute to the growth of a more competitive and sustainable Canadian agricultural sector.”
With this investment, COTA has developed a four-module retailer training program as well as a webinar training series on how to become “export-ready.” It continues to expand the training program in order to deliver sessions virtually as well as in-person to a wide stakeholder audience. In the first two years of the program, COTA has trained over 600 participants from 300 companies, with estimated related sales close to $1.7 million.
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