The second phase of the Dairy Farm Investment program will start accepting applications in the New Year.

The federal program is a five-year, $250-million program to “help Canadian cow’s milk producers improve productivity through upgrades to their equipment.” The government says the program is designed to assist dairy producers adapt to the anticipated impacts of the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

The second and final phase offers $98 million in funding for dairy eligible producers.

Changes have been made to the application process for this round, as the government wanted to take into account feedback from farmer and industry. Something that remains unchanged is the eligible expenditures.

New for 2019, the process to apply includes a two-stage application process involving a pre-selection step. If the applicant is selected, only then would you be required to submit a full application. This eliminates the previous first-come-first-served process.

Priority will be given to farms that have not already received funding, the government says. According to the news release, the program will strive to” support investments in all provinces over the five-year life of the program, approximately in proportion to their share of the total milk quota.”

Projects will be eligible for a contribution of up to $100,000. The government expects anywhere between 1,000 to 1,500 projects.

Last year, more than 2,500 producers applied to the first phase of the program. More than 1,900 of those applications were funded for an average of $68,000 per project.

Applications will open January 7th, 2019, and producers will have until February 8th, 2019, to apply. More here.