2025 Grain Fund Invites Innovators

Sep 06, 2024
By Jean-Paul McDonald
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

The Grain Farmers of Ontario are now welcoming applications for its 2025 Grains Innovation Fund.

This initiative offers up to 60% funding, capped at $50,000, for eligible projects focused on Ontario grains such as barley, corn, oats, soybeans, and wheat.

Targeted at a broad range of innovators, from grain handlers to marketers and bioproduct developers, the fund aims to increase the utilization and value of Ontario grains.

Projects that use at least 40 metric tonnes of these grains annually and align with specific criteria, such as opening new markets or expanding existing ones, are encouraged to apply.

"Throughout history, grains and oilseeds have played a crucial and adaptable role in fostering innovation across various sectors,” says Paul Hoekstra, Vice President of Strategic Development, Grain Farmers of Ontario. "The Grains Innovation Fund projects continue to push boundaries, expanding the market reach and utilization of Ontario's outstanding grain products."

The fund prioritizes projects that could significantly impact the food processing industry, sustainable bio-economy, animal feed, or scalable value-added processing within Ontario.

Examples of past funded initiatives include the development of soybean oil-based road paint and wheat-based pita chips, illustrating the fund's commitment to innovative and practical applications of grains.

Applications are open to entities across the value chain looking to create or promote products that underscore the quality and versatility of Ontario grains.

With a vision to enhance the province's agricultural sector's sustainability and economic impact, the Grain Farmers of Ontario continues to foster innovation that meets the evolving demands of global and local markets.

This year's Grains Innovation Fund supports Ontario's agricultural advancement and underscores the province's role in leading agricultural innovation on a broader scale.

For more information on the program and application details, please visit gfo.ca/grains-innovation-fund.

Applications for the 2025 Grains Innovation Fund must be submitted by email to rzimic@gfo.ca by 4 p.m. on November 1, 2024.

Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.