Canada’s organic farming sector is the focus of recent federal funding.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced $6.8-million of funding for the Organic Federation of Canada (OFC) over five years through the AgriScience Program – Clusters Component, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

According to AAFC in a news release, the funding will allow OFC to partner on research projects related to the environmental benefits of sustainable farming practices “and address challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, soil health and water quality.”

OFC’s role in those partnerships will be to find solutions to production challenges such as organic crop adaptability and pest management. The hope is these efforts will improve the performance of organic production systems, improve sustainability and support economic growth and development.

The organic sector is no small industry. Numbers from AAFC show in 2022, the sector grew to $9.3-billion and in the same year, Canada exported $555 million in organic products.