Greg Newing
Local Journalism Initiative
The Table Agroalimentaire de l’Outaouais (TAO) launched a new call for project proposals on February 5. Local agriculture and natural food businesses and organizations may be eligible to apply for grants of up to $200,000 and projects with a broader regional scope may be eligible to receive up to $500,000.
The funding program is part of the 2023-2025 Outaouais Biofood Sector Development Agreement, which supports regional initiatives and projects aligned with the goals of the 2020-2025 Outaouais Biofood Development Plan: advancing health, food-security, environmental protection, expanding local entrepreneurship and promoting sustainable agriculture and tourism across the Outaouais.
The agreement is financially supported by the provincial government as well as regional and municipal organizations, including the MRC Pontiac and MRC-des-Collines, and administered by the TAO, a non-profit organization that collaborates with government and other organizations to support sustainable food production in the Outaouais. This is the second call for proposals after an earlier call was launched in September last year.
Eligible organizations include non-profits, municipal organizations, Indigenous communities and band-councils, cooperatives and social enterprises, and agri-food businesses or groups of agri-food businesses.
While Pontiac businesses and organizations can apply, the TAO emphasized that any eligible proposal must support the Outaouais region as a whole either through projects that are regional in scope or through collaboration with businesses and organizations in other MRCs.
Instructions on how to apply and project criteria can be found online at https://www.agro-outaouais.com/appel-de-projets.
More information about the Outaouais Biofood Development Plan can be found at https://www.agro-outaouais.com/pdbo.
The deadline for proposals is Sunday, February 25.
For additional information about the funding program as well as examples of previous grant recipients visit https://www.agro-outaouais.com/esbo. For other inquiries contact Aurélie Boyer at esbo@agro-outaouais.com.
