Update from Protein Industries Canada

Over the past number of weeks, we have heard from our members about the challenges they’re facing due to COVID-19. At Protein Industries Canada, we take these concerns very seriously. The agrifood industry is vital to Canada’s economy and we are committed to supporting our member companies.

To that end, Protein Industries Canada has made the following available to any technology project that incurs eligible project expenses between now and March 31, 2021. We are hopeful that these changes will help our project consortiums navigate the current situation and ensure that research and innovation continue.

• Protein Industries Canada’s contribution towards eligible project salary and wage expenses will increase to 75 per cent, for the fiscal year April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
• Advance Model: Protein Industries Canada will provide monthly or quarterly advances of Protein Industries Canada’s expected portion of eligible project expenses based on cash flow projections of projects. This means that projects will be able to receive Protein Industries Canada’s portion prior to incurring the expense.
• Companies may choose to defer payment of the four per cent Project Administration Fees. Projects will still be invoiced for Project Administration Fees throughout the year, but the payment due date will be the earlier of the project end date or March 31, 2021.

In addition to the changes to the technology program, Protein Industries Canada is also deferring all Membership fees to August 1, 2020. This option will be put in place automatically for all current members. If your membership is up for renewal between April 22 and June 30, 2020, your payment of $500 will be automatically deferred to August 1, 2020.

Ensuring investment into R&D continues is one way we will help our industry weather these uncertain times. To assist with continued investment, Protein Industries Canada is launching our third call for Expressions of Interests (EOIs) for technology projects. This is a continual call, meaning there is no closing date for EOIs to be submitted. Consortium’s may submit projects on a timeline that works for them and their organization. We recognize we are doing business in a very different world than we were even a month ago and that the timing may not be right for every company to focus on submitting a project at this time. However, for some organizations this is an opportunity to look towards the future.

I am hopeful that these changes will help our member organizations. We believe that Canada’s agrifood sector has an important role to play in our economic recovery and the long-term economic strength of Canada, and we will do what we can to support this important sector.

Take care,

Bill