B.C. Agri-Business Planning Program Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable-CAP)

On this page:

Overview
Funding
Eligibility
Timeline
Contact
Stream 1 Agri-Business Skills and Leadership Development
Stream 2 Business Planning, Preparedness, and Disaster Recovery
How to Apply
Program guide
Forms
Resources

Program overview

The B.C. Agri-Business Planning Program (ABPP) provides funding support for primary agricultural producers and agriculture, food & beverage processors to support informed decision making and ensure business development.

Funding is available under two streams:

Agri-Business Skills and Leadership Development
Business Planning, Preparedness, and Disaster Recovery

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Program funding

Program applications will be accepted until 4:30pm on February 15, 2024, or until the Program funding is fully allocated for fiscal year 2023/24.

Funding is provided through a reimbursement process to approved applicants.


Program stream	Program funding amounts
Stream 1: Agri-Business Skills and Leadership Development	Up to 70% to a maximum contribution of $2,000
Stream 2: Business Planning, Preparedness, and Disaster Recovery	Up to $7,500 for individual business Up to $22,500 for groups

*Minimum reimbursement of $500.00

* Stream 2 is eligible for an interim payment

Program eligibility

To be eligible for the Program, applicants must meet all the following eligibility requirements¹:

Must be a either a
- Primary agriculture producer
  - growing or raising fresh food or agricultural products which are 100% grown or raised in British Columbia and are intended for sale^2.

Agriculture, Food and Beverage Processor
- processing food, beverage, or agricultural products which are processed and packaged in B.C. with 51% or more of the direct cost of producing the product in its final form (i.e., the sum of raw materials, direct labour, variable processing, and packaging) originating in B.C. When the main raw materials are available in sufficient quantities from B.C. producers, they must be used

Farm or processing business must
- Be a B.C. registered business taxable entity (e.g., sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, or other associations of persons or trust) with a GST and business number
- File income tax under the Income Tax Act in British Columbia
- Report total annual gross revenues greater than $50,000 in the previous year to Canada Revenue Agency
All proprietors, partners, members, or shareholders must be residents of British Columbia.
Disclose any funding received/are receiving from any other B.C Ministry of Agriculture and Food Program(s) or any other B.C. Government Program(s) during the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable- CAP) Agreement

¹Additional documentation may be required to demonstrate eligibility.

²For primary producers engaged in commercial agriculture production annual gross farm income is defined as income from sales of farm commodities including production insurance, crop and livestock sales including licensed cannabis production, and value-added farm products; but does not include income from custom work, (providing services to a person engaged in farming activities, i.e., providing landscaping) riding lessons, boarding horses, land and facilities rent, aquaculture, raising of pets, agri-tourism income, sales of forestry products and some agro-forestry products, government program payments, or any other non-commodity income.

Indigenous applicants

The province is committed to supporting the success of Indigenous businesses in the agriculture and food sector. We understand that Indigenous businesses may have distinct characteristics reflecting regulatory, operational, cultural, and other factors. We aim for flexibility in our program delivery to reduce barriers and ensure the accessibility of our programs.

Indigenous applicants are encouraged to reach out to Program staff with any questions.

Program timeline

Program applications will be accepted until 4:30pm on February 15, 2024, or until the Program funding is fully allocated for fiscal year 2023/24.

For Stream 1:
- Applicants must have registered and paid for their learning and specialized training by March 15, 2024.
- Final Documents for reimbursement must be submitted within 30 days of training registration.
For Stream 2:
- All projects must be within 90 days of initiation date.
- All Final Documents for reimbursement must be submitted within 30 days of project completion.

Program contact

If you are interested in applying to the program but have questions about the application process or eligibility criteria, please contact program staff at Agribusiness@gov.bc.ca or call AgriSerivce at 1-888-221-7141.

Stream 1: Agri-business skills and leadership development

Goal: To support access to specialized training for business owners and key managers resulting in improved business management knowledge, adoption of practices and benefit(s) to the business.

Funding Amount: reimbursement of up to 70% of eligible costs as outlined in your Learning Action Plan (Fillable Form) (DOCX, 968 KB).

Minimum reimbursement of $500.00 to a maximum reimbursement of $2,000 per fiscal year.
For example: Cost of eligible specialized training(s) of $715.00 @ 70% = $500 funding provided

Stream 1 is NOT eligible for an interim payment.

Eligible Activities: Learning and specialized training, courses, registration, fees, and tuition for:

Business management including topics such as:
- Financial analysis
- Cash flow management
- Human resource management
- Cost of production
- Benchmarking
Business leadership
Business management conferences

Ineligible Activities

Travel costs
Acquiring programs, software, devices, stationary or other assets
Costs incurred before the project start date.

Stream 2: Business planning, preparedness and disaster recovery

Goals:

To increase awareness, knowledge, and adoption of best business management practices and support business and sector growth and sustainability.
To support businesses to proactively assess their financial situation as part of a comprehensive risk assessment plan and/or to assess the feasibility of the financial investment in growth, emergency preparedness, or disaster recovery.
To support the development of immediate and long-term business recovery plans for businesses that have been impacted by an external event such as fire, flood, drought, tornado, disease outbreak, COVID-19, death, or illness.

Funding amount:

Individual Application
- Reimbursement of up to $7,500.
Group Application:
- Two applicants: Reimbursement of up to $15,000.
- Three or more applicants: Reimbursement of up to $22,500.

Stream 2 is eligible for interim payment.

Any costs that exceed the eligible funding amounts are the responsibility of the applicant.

Eligible activities

Business planning services and coaching from a business consultant (as outlined in Program Guide to create, update or renew a business plan focused on one, or a combination of, the following eligible activity areas:
- Business disaster recovery (e.g., drought, fire, flood)
- Business emergency planning preparedness
- Business structures
- Business strategy
- Product development
- Production economics
- Cash flow and financial analysis
- Human resources
- Value added ventures
- Risk assessment and mitigation
- Succession/transition planning
Review and evaluation of existing business plan, strategy, financial and other relevant documents
Meetings between consultant and business owner/operator, family, shareholders, partners, or key business individuals for project planning, goal setting, provision of advisory services and/or coaching, review of analysis and options, and development of plan
Travel costs for the consultant for on-site meetings with the business owner/operator (receipts required)
Travel costs must be reasonable, not exceed 20% of the project cost, and will be reviewed by the Ministry. Receipts for travel expenses must be submitted with the consultant invoice. No travel outside of B.C. will be reimbursed
Production of written business plan and supporting documents

 Ineligible activities

Preparation of legal documents, contracts and/or formal agreements
Accounting, bookkeeping, income tax preparation, search of titles, off-farm investment planning and other costs associated with implementing the action plan
Acquiring capital assets
Costs associated with the gathering of data (soil analysis, tissue analysis/germination and seed viability testing, crop scouting activities)
Activities/costs associated with the preparation/compilation of applications and/or forms for other Provincial or Federal Programs (e.g., crop insurance, AgriStability, AgriInvest, AgriRecovery, Work Safe BC etc.)
Costs incurred before the project start date

How to apply

To apply for the B.C. Agri-Business Planning Program, complete and submit the Program Application here.

Applicants can apply for one or both streams.

Late applications will not be accepted.

For steps to apply, please refer to the Application Checklist (PDF, 239 KB) and/or the Program Guide (PDF, 1.1 MB).

Forms