Backgrounder: Government of Canada announces support for agriculture sector in Saskatchewan

PrairiesCan is investing more than $10 million for nine projects in Saskatchewan through the Business Scale-up and Productivity (BSP) program, Regional Innovation Ecosystems (RIE) program, and Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI).

Business Scale-up and Productivity (BSP) program – $700,000

The BSP program supports high-growth businesses that are seeking to improve productivity, scale-up, and commercialize technology. It offers interest-free, repayable funding to incorporated businesses that have been in operation for a minimum of two years.

PrairiesCan announced an investment for one repayable project under BSP:

• Prairie Meats Inc., general partner of Prairie Meats LP - $700,000: Prairie Meats will complete all building and production facility upgrades required to ensure they can obtain Safe Food for Canadians Regulations licenses from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for both their Millar Avenue and Dudley Street locations in Saskatoon. This project will strengthen Prairie Meats capacity to manufacture food for consumers across the Prairies, which will be regulated to a high standard.

Regional Innovation Ecosystems (RIE) program - $2,725,649

The RIE program helps create, grow, and nurture inclusive regional ecosystems. Through RIE, targeted investments in not-for-profit organizations assist businesses in priority sectors to innovate, grow, and compete globally.

PrairiesCan announced investments for three non-repayable projects under RIE:

• Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) - $1,625,649: GIFS at the University of Saskatchewan is expanding genomics research capacity that will advance breeding capabilities to companies and breeding organizations, bringing higher-yielding and higher-quality livestock, pulses, and other crops to market quicker. This investment builds on original funding of $1.6 million announced in 2025 for this project.
• The Global Agri-Food Advancement Partnership (GAAP) - $900,000: GAAP is expanding its market reach and enhancing Saskatchewan’s agri-food and biotech commercialization infrastructure. This investment will allow GAAP to purchase key biomanufacturing and processing equipment required for product development, scale-up, downstream processing, and commercialization activities, maximizing the use of GAAP’s existing assets, accelerating commercialization outcomes for clients, and building a sustainable pipeline of client companies. GAAP is also re-establishing its Navigate program to connect startups, investors, corporate partners, and ecosystem organizations while showcasing Saskatchewan as a destination for agri-food and biotech innovation.
• Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI) - $200,000: PAMI is purchasing advanced agricultural processing equipment and technologies to support small and medium enterprises as they design, test, and commercialize products and processes in value-added agriculture.

Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI) - $6,595,762

The Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI) is part of the Government of Canada’s strategy to defend Canadian jobs, industries, and supply chains from the impacts of tariffs. Delivered by Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) in the Prairie provinces, RTRI strengthens the competitiveness of tariff impacted small- and medium-sized businesses by helping them to boost productivity, catalyze growth, and diversify markets.

PrairiesCan announced three non-repayable investments under RTRI:

• POS Biosciences Corp. - $1,000,000: POS Biosciences will modernize their processing infrastructure to expand seed pasteurization and purification capacity in Saskatchewan.
• Bioriginal Food & Science Corp. - $1,000,000: Bioriginal will expand and automate their liquid oilseed processing and packaging capacity. The installation of two automated filling lines for liquid oilseed will add another layer of value-added activity by enabling high volume bottling, blending, and packaging of finished products in Saskatchewan.
• North 49 Foods Ltd. - $990,762: North 49 will expand the cut floor at their Moose Jaw pork processing facility to accommodate metal detectors and new processing and packaging equipment, enabling the company to increase production capacity, create new jobs, develop export markets, and grow purchases of local Saskatchewan livestock.

Two repayable investments were also announced under RTRI:

• POS Biosciences Corp. - $1,335,000: POS Biosciences will modernize their processing infrastructure to scale-up specialty oil extraction from plant, marine and algal biomass in Saskatchewan.
• Bioriginal Food & Science Corp. - $2,270,000: Bioriginal will expand and modernize their food ingredient processing facility by adding one fully automated dry production and packaging line with automation and robotics and purchasing specialized equipment to bring coconut aminos production in-house.

Related products

• News release: Government of Canada announces support for agriculture sector in Saskatchewan