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2025 Broadacre Cropping Program │Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN)

October 20, 2025

Value

Up to $600,000 CAD for project execution.

Description

CAAIN is committing up to $3M CAD in funding to support collaborative activities that will bridge the gap between the development of new innovations in broadacre crop production and their adoption in commercial space. CAAIN is seeking applications for research and innovation projects in the large-scale cultivation of crops on a minimum of 100 acres of land that:

  • Advance the development, use, and value of automation and robotics
  • Support the creation of data-based decision-making tools that can be applied to improve knowledge, reduce risk or optimize production; and/or
  • Contribute to the implementation of a smart farm platform or smart farm networks to support technology adoption through fulsome integration of partners; creation frameworks for validation, demonstration and scaling; and training of a technologically proficient agricultural workforce.

Eligible Applicants

The following criteria are the minimum requirements for CAAIN funding:

  • Project teams/networks must be comprised of organizations with operations in Canada. Teams/networks involving multiple stakeholders are encouraged. This may include academic/research institutions, not-for-profit organizations, for-profit entities (SMEs, MNEs), etc. International collaborations are also welcome; however, CAAIN funding can only flow to Canadian entities.
  • Projects must include cash contributions from at least two small or medium enterprises (SME) incorporated in Canada. SMEs are defined by Statistics Canada as those with 499 or fewer employees and include for-profit or not-for-profit entities.
  • All project partners must be in good standing with CAAIN. This includes having no overdue reporting or monies owed to CAAIN.
  • Proposal objectives must be consistent with those of CAAIN and of the ISED Strategic Innovation Fund Stream 4 (https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/125.nsf/eng/00007.html).
  • The initiative must be incremental to the regular business of project team member organizations, meaning that:
    • Financial commitments are distinct from investments that would otherwise occur
    • The project is new or would not be undertaken at the same scope or scale without the support of CAAIN funding
  • Project teams/networks commit to sharing widely the results of all technology assessments supported by CAAIN and uploading research and evaluation results onto a CAAIN-led or CAAIN-managed software platform.
  • Project teams/networks commit to promoting the CAAIN brand in association with a smart farm or smart farm network.
  • Former and current funding recipients of CAAIN are welcome to apply.

Eligible Expenses

To be considered for CAAIN funding support, all proposals must meet the following criteria:

  • Be developing a digital technology or operating a Canadian smart farm focused on a broadacre cropping system which addresses a specific Canadian agricultural opportunity. This may include, but is not limited to, the following:
    • Indigenous-focused broadacre cropping
    • Improved production efficiency
    • Energy efficiency
    • Agricultural food quality and safety
    • Transportation
    • Traceability
  • Eligible crops include grains (wheat, corn, barley, oats), beans, pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables and forage (hay and swath). Applicants should note that all activities should cover a land size of a minimum of 100 acres, at one or several (combined) locations within Canada. Applicants may reach out to CAAIN program mangers to inquire about crops not listed in this document.
  • Have available the knowledge and skills necessary to evaluate and publicly report on the economic, social, and/or environmental benefits provided by the technology or knowledge being evaluated, including, but not limited to:
    • Improved operator decision-making
    • Reduced reliance on costly unskilled labour
    • Precise use of agricultural inputs
    • Improved production of value-added crops
    • Improved land use
    • Reduced water use/Irrigation
    • Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
    • Enhanced carbon capture
  • Have interest in, and be capable of, empirically validating the use of the latest knowledge and emerging technology relevant to the proposed project, including an assessment of potential economic value
  • Commit to sharing high-quality, verifiable evaluations of emerging technologies with the agtech community
  • Commit to demonstrating the latest knowledge and emerging technology implemented or tested on the farm to Canadian agricultural producers, researchers and communities
  • Commit to providing a high-level summary of datasets generated during the project for publication in the CAAIN directory
  • Commit to contributing a high-level summary of intellectual property generated to the CAAIN IP directory
  • Provide learning opportunities contributing to the development of a skilled workforce
  • Commit to sharing research and/ or demonstration data using a common structured format with CAAIN. This data, when anonymized, will be owned by CAAIN
  • Commit to using CAAIN’s data collaboration and management platform, including providing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) necessary for data integration. (for activities involving smart farms & networks)
  • Commit to keeping resultant (foreground) IP and data in Canada for a minimum of 5 years from project from project completion.

Deadline Date

Initial Project Application Form (PAF) deadline: June 16, 2025; Expression of Interest (EOI) deadline: August 11, 2025; Full Project Proposal (FPP) deadline: October 20, 2025

Contact

Contact Name: Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN)

Phone Number: (780)-975-8635

E-mail Address: info@caain.ca

Website: https://caain.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CAAIN-2025-Broadacre-Cropping-Program-Guide-Final.pdf

Industry:

Agriculture, Non-Profit, Software/Technology

Location:

Alberta, British Colombia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, NWT, Ontario, PEI, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon

Tags:

Automation, Innovation, R&D, SMEs

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There is grant money waiting for YOU! BUT if you step in a “grant trap,” your application is a NO! Learn the FIVE most common errors to AVOID in government grants! Get the 5 Grant Gotchas now to save you countless hours.

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