The Productivity Designated Program

Deadline: the Program will end on March 31, 2028.

The purpose of the Productivity Designated Program is to support competitiveness, profitability, growth, increase yield and long-term sustainability of the Sector.

Eligible Activities

The following activities are eligible to be undertaken under the Productivity Designated Program, including any Initiative established thereunder:

1. Building international awareness of Ontario as an ideal place to develop new food and agri-technologies to attract foreign direct investment and generate new technologies and production techniques;
2. Agri-food business activities, including:
   1. Conducting labour and productivity assessments/audits,
   2. Investing in key technology and automation solutions for specific sector issues via development and implementation of robotics, new technologies and customized solutions,
   3. Improving productivity through purchase, feasibility study, planning and installation of new or upgraded technology, equipment and software systems and associated data collection and systems,
   4. Improving productivity through ingredient and waste management,
   5. Undertaking enterprise resource planning and supply chain management system projects,
   6. Developing tools, resources and training to support businesses to identify opportunities or implement productivity improvements, and
   7. Expanding and/or increasing capacity through feasibility analyses, planning, purchase and installation of new or upgraded technology, equipment, software systems and associated data collection and systems;
3. Building of internal capacity to understand the range of productivity improvements available to support productivity programming in the future;
4. Building of internal capacity to understand the range or labour attraction and retention options available to support future programming;
5. Adopting de-risking technologies and processes by supporting organization and sector-based analysis and creating opportunities for networking between organizations across the value chain, governments, investors, industry and academia from the local to global level;
6. Applied research to fill knowledge gaps and offer recommendations on how best to address key productivity-related issues as well as efficiency or optimization issues;
7. Organization and execution of pilots and demonstrations;
8. Education and training to improve agri-food businesses’ productivity, including support for re-skilling, up-skilling and hiring;
9. Surveillance, monitoring and risk assessments to identify emerging productivity trends, develop best practices and model economic impacts of productivity issues;
10. Purchase and installation of new technologies and software systems to increase automation and labour productivity to meet market demand;
11. Commercialization of technologies, equipment or processes that improve agri-business productivity, including resource efficiencies such as energy, natural resources and inputs that impact environmental outcomes;
12. Communicating success stories that build public trust and improve understanding of the Sector’s successes related to productivity; and
13. Any activity set out in:
    1. A Recipient’s Transfer Payment Agreement or a Vendor’s Service Level Agreement, or
    2. Any Designated Program Guidelines for the Productivity Designated Program or any Initiative Guidelines for any Initiative established under the Productivity Designated Program,

provided that activity falls within the purpose of the Productivity Designated Program.

Eligible Persons

The following are eligible to participate in the Productivity Designated Program, including any Initiative established thereunder:

1. 1. Primary Producers;
   2. Processors;
   3. Industry Organizations;
   4. Research Bodies;
   5. Retailer/Wholesalers;
   6. Service Providers;
   7. P/T/M Governments; and
   8. Indigenous Peoples.