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The York Region Agriculture and Agri-Food Update newsletter shares highlights from York Region's business community including news, upcoming events, new funding programs and more.
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BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY NEWS
FUNDING PROGRAMS AND COVID-19 SUPPORTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
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BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY NEWS
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Ontario Removes Mandatory Masking Requirement
On March 9, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore announced the Provincial mandate requiring the use of a mask inside public spaces will be lifted effective Monday, March 21. Under the Province’s new Living with and Managing COVID-19 Plan, masking still remains in select settings such as public transit, health care settings, long-term care homes and congregate care settings.
READ MORE
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Ontario Invests in Agri-Food Innovation
The Government of Ontario is investing up to $22 million through the Agri-Tech Innovation Program to fund more than 170 projects that help the agri-food sector implement new and unique ways to set businesses up for future growth and success while strengthening the food supply chain, creating safer workplaces and making operations more resilient to future disruptions.
This investment will build a stronger Ontario through the adoption of new advanced agriculture and food processing technology that improves the productivity of farmers and agri-food processing businesses, address the labour shortage, and support the long-term sustainability and growth of the sector.
READ MORE
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Business is Booming for Georgina-based Nom Nom Edibles
If Homer Simpson taught us anything, it's no matter how great life is, it's not complete without doughnuts. A local Georgina-based doughnut shop, Nom Nom Edibles, is making waves with its wide variety of delicious flavours. Although owner Sarah Malaquias opened up shop at the start of the pandemic, business has been booming.
READ MORE
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Check Out These New Reports on Greenbelt Agriculture
With support from the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance, the Greenbelt Foundation has released two new reports that provide insight into the economic impacts and life histories of Greenbelt Farmers.
The first report, Understanding How Greenbelt Agriculture Feeds the Regional Economy, details agriculture’s economic contribution to the Greenbelt and Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH). The second report, Greenbelt Farmers: Economic Network Case Studies, focuses on qualitative case studies of seven local Greenbelt farms, including an overview of Eek Farms right here in York Region.
Together, the case studies and economic analysis tell the story of the complexity of the agricultural and agri-food sector in the Greenbelt and Greater Golden Horseshoe, its relationships with other sectors, and the value of agriculture and agri-food businesses to the region’s economy.
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New Company Aims to Tackle Food Waste, Affordability in York Region
When faced with problems like food waste and the rising cost of eating healthy, Jay Stegink turned to a solution that’s gaining traction in China: community buying. In this practice, a community leader takes orders from members, then places one big order and distributes it within the community.
Value Fresh sends out a newsletter every Monday to subscribers highlighting what produce is available for purchase that week from farms or wholesalers. Stegink said it doesn't include everything shoppers would find at a grocery store, but they have 50 to 75 different items available each week.
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Reducing Single Use Item Waste in Food Businesses
Single-use items often end up littering our parks, playgrounds, rivers and lakes. In collaboration with York Region, the City of Richmond Hill and Town of Newmarket are working together to implement a business engagement program to help businesses reduce their reliance on single-use items and provide recognition for their efforts.
We are looking for your input to help shape the program - please complete the short survey using the link below.
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Building Better Bridges to Food and Farming
In this guest blog post, Crystal Mackay, CEO of Loft 32 and one of our Keynote Speakers at the 2021 Agri-Food Forum, discusses her take on how to bridge the "rural-urban" gap.
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FUNDING PROGRAMS AND COVID-19 NEWS
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Canada Digital Adoption Program
The Government of Canada has recently launched the new Canada Digital Adoption Program to help small and medium-sized businesses adopt new digital tool and improve their online presence. The program offers two streams:
- Grow Your Business Online: Apply for a micro-grant and access e-commerce advisors to help you go digital and take advantage of e-commerce opportunities.
- Boost Your Business Technology: Apply for a grant to help you develop a digital plan, and leverage funded work placements to help with your digital transformation.
READ MORE
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COVID-19 Business Resources and Funding Programs Overview
To help you make sense of all the available funding programs and resources, we continue to update our COVID-19 Business Resource page that contains information on supports announced by the federal, provincial, and municipal governments, as well as, events, and other pertinent information to impacted businesses.
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Webinar Series: Thinking of Diversifying Your Farm?
March 25 and April 1, 2022 | 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Are you a farmer interested in diversifying your business? This webinar series will help you understand different options available for diversifying your farm business.
REGISTER
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2022 Farmland Forum
March 24, 2022
Ontario Farmland Trust is hosting the 17th annual Farmland Forum virtually on March 24, 2022! Discussions throughout the day will explore how humans, plants, and animals can work harmoniously to produce agricultural commodities, create ecosystem services, and combat climate change.
REGISTER
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York Link | York Region Economic Development
The York Link team is here to help and are committed to supporting local businesses. We are still providing business advisory and consultation services, information on business resources, support for startups, and more in a virtual capacity at this time.
Get in touch with us:
Website: yorklink.ca/agrifood
Email: agri-food@york.ca
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