Research and Development Funding: Applications for WRAMI Accepted Until Feb.15th

Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz along with the Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ted McMeekin jointly announced a research and development funding initiative offered by the federal and provincial government called The Water Resource Adaptation and Management Initiative (WRAMI).  The Initiative is aimed to help prepare Ontario farmers for drought and adapt their water use practices to deal with the growing impacts of climate change. 

General information regarding this government funding for research and development opportunity:

The objective of the WRAMI initiative is to help Ontario farmers become better prepared for low water response and drought as well as to enhance water use practices to deal with the growing impacts of climate change.   The program will allocate approximately $1.5 Million over the next 18 months (2013-2014).  The Canadian government funding will be aimed to help provide opportunity for Ontario farmers to adopt sustainable on-farm water management practices by developing innovative technologies and solutions to water conservation and water use efficiency.  The general scale of funding for the demonstration of projects runs up to $70,000 per project, of which will constitute within a range of 50 to 100% of the project’s total costs.

List of Those Eligible for Canadian government grants through the WRAMI Program:

Applicants that will be considered for this government funding includes:

• Partnerships;
• Universities and colleges;
• Cooperatives,
• Marketing boards;
• Non-profit organizations;
• First Nation groups;
• Commodity groups &recognized industry associations and organizations; and,
• Research groups or contractors that are currently involved in farming activities that demonstrate sensitivity to water supply, and use in Ontario

Types of Projects Eligible for this Ontario government grants program

The Ontario research and development funding will have two streams of funding made available:

1.)    Projects or research aimed at developing innovative methods or equipment to help conserve water.

2.)    The communication of project results through training workshops, presentations and other outreach programs, including educational material designed to highlight technology used to conserve water.

Projects that aim to enhance water conservation include those projects which target the following:

• Increased crop water use efficiency
• Improved irrigation application efficiency
• Increased capture and utilization of precipitation
• Increased irrigation water capture and efficient delivery
• Increased soil water retention while maintaining adequate drainage
• Improved plant genetics (plant stress tolerance)
• Decreased soil evaporation
• Preservation of source water quality and recycling to reduce water used
• Minimize water consumption by livestock and husbandry activities

Important Details Regarding this Research and Development Funding Initiative:

The Submission deadline for this government funding for research and development is Friday February 15^th, 2013 and final decisions on which projects will be approved for funding will be made by February 28, 2013.

For more information regarding this program or information on provincial and federal government funding for business programs please contact a Canadian Government Funding Expert.    Please follow us on Twitter for news and updates!