Capacity Building Program

Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain Program

Funds Canadian food manufacturers and processors through Protein Industries Canada co-investment to reformulate or scale up products using domestic plant-protein ingredients.

The Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain Program is a co-investment grant administered by Protein Industries Canada (PIC), a federally backed innovation supercluster, under its Capacity Building stream. The program reimburses up to 75 percent of total eligible project costs, capped at CAD 150,000 per project. Eligible project budgets must fall between CAD 50,000 and CAD 200,000, meaning the minimum reimbursable amount is CAD 37,500. Projects run for a maximum of 12 months.

The program was launched in March 2025 in response to trade uncertainty with the United States. It focuses on helping Canadian ingredient manufacturers and food processors create or reformulate products for the Canadian market using Canadian field crops and emerging crops. All projects must use Canadian feedstocks — wheat, oats, barley, peas, soy, fava beans, or other emerging crops such as lupin or hemp.

Eligibility is limited to Canadian for-profit companies. To qualify, a project must include at least one of: reformulating products with domestically produced ingredients; scaling up and commercializing domestic food products for Canadian consumers; or scaling up and commercializing domestically produced ingredients for Canadian manufacturers. The program has completed at least three cohorts; EOIs are currently closed.

Application is by Expression of Interest (EOI). Interested companies should subscribe to the PIC newsletter to hear when the next intake opens. The Program Guide, available on the program page, must be reviewed before applying — PIC only considers companies that demonstrate understanding of the technical requirements. A scoring framework is not publicly disclosed.