Tax Credits and Research Grants for Farming, Agriculture and Food Industries

Farming, Agriculture, and Food Industries need advancement in research and development with increased pressure of population. That is why government is encouraging the companies working in Farming , Agriculture and Food by providing R&D funding and research grants.

Common eligible project examples for research grants in Agriculture and Farming industries are:

• Environment-friendly Farming: The farming projects that are adapting environmentally-friendly techniques to reduce energy consumption, reduce water use by improving irrigation system, find alternatives to harmful chemicals, filtration and recycling water. Biopharming, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
• Increased yield: The methods and modifications that increase crop yield (weight, size, number of flowers/stems); Propagation research (increasing number of cuttings, seeds); Fertilizer content, Biological controls (bees, bugs), Soil Mixture; Light/Shading/Temperature; Resistance to diseases/fungus/parasites
• Increased safety: Using the equipments that could help increasing safety and production.

Canada hosts thousands of food processing companies. Many of them already fulfill the qualifying criteria for Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentives, but most of them don’t claim them.

Common example of eligible food businesses are: Confectionary, starch and oil manufacturers, seafood, poultry, dairy, egg and fruit producers, meat processing and slaughtering operations, wineries, tobacco, beverage, specialty food companies, pet and animal food manufacturers.

In Food industries, the following activities may qualify under research grants or tax incentives:

• Meeting the consumers’ needs: Developing low-fat, nut-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free foods to meets consumers’ needs.
• Increasing preservation and flavour: Experimenting different ingredients to increase the shelf-life and flavour of food products. Vineyards and Breweries fall in the same category as well. These industries might also need improvement in packaging and flavour.
• Improve packaging or production throughput by altering manufacturing process or machineries

The eligibility criteria and application procedure to get research grants for R&D is not as difficult as company owners think. The major reason of why most of the companies don’t apply for research grants is the misconceptions spread in market in regard with qualification and application process. The second misconception is about the size of company. The fact is that regardless of business size, any Canadian controlled private corporation (CCPC) can apply for SR&ED Tax Credits and there is also no need to conduct laboratory research. You just have to indulge in technological advancement or remove technical uncertainty to qualify to apply for research grants.

In general, the following Eligibility Criteria should be highly considered:

• The procedure should solve some kind of uncertainty.
• The success of outcome is not needed; you just have to demonstrate the steps you took in order to make achieve desired results.
• Keep track of documents and evidences in order to support your claim.

For further information regarding the eligibility of your projects for SR&ED, research grants and funds and estimate of your claim check out  Assessment LookUP and Fund Calculator. To take advantage of our 30min free no-obligation consulting service either contact us or fill out the request form.