Product and Market Development Program

The Product and Market Development Program is designed to expand domestic and international competitiveness by supporting small and medium-sized agricultural producers, agri-businesses and agri-processors to expand their product base or markets through:

• Value-added and agri-food processing projects; 
• Market development activities on PEI; and
• Market development activities through intra-jurisdictional projects. 

Special consideration will be given to projects which include knowledge adoption, and clean technologies that will upscale innovation. This program will assist the individual needs of small and medium-sized sized enterprises, rather than serve to implement broad strategic initiatives

Am I eligible to apply for Product and Market Development funding?

The following includes a summary of program and funding eligibility. Before completing the application form, please review program and funding criteria in the Product and Market Development Program Guidelines .

Eligible Recipients

• Mi’kmaq First Nations and other Indigenous groups;
• Agricultural producers;
• Small to medium-sized agri-businesses;
• Small to medium-sized agri-processors;
• Agriculture industry organizations, clubs, and associations; and
• Others may be considered upon request.

Eligible Activities/Expenses:

• Purchase of machinery and equipment;
• Attending (but not exhibiting at) a trade show once for a new market;
• Exploring new or emerging markets;
• Investigative travel to new or emerging markets;
• Incoming buyer missions of new buyers from export markets for the purpose of gathering market intelligence;
• Research for the purpose of exploring new and emerging markets;
• Feasibility studies related to delivery of products;
• Translation and legal consultation related to marketing a product in a new market;
• Consulting or business coaching on applied market research and value chain development;
• Hands-on mentoring and training to understand the logistics of delivery of PEI products from the farm gate to the market;
• Commercialization and adoption of new products, technologies, practices or processes;
• Marketing plan development activities;
• Consulting services which analyze new and emerging market trends and opportunities; domestically and/or abroad;
• Development of new products including:
• Professional services;
• Process development;
• Recipe development (i.e., food trials, testing and consultant fees);
• Purchase of equipment to process packages and labels (including nutritional labelling) for a new product;
• Design and first printing of packaging;
• Brand development;
• Focus groups for purposes of developing project attributes;
• Analytical and quality testing;
• Travel and transportation costs; and
• Design and first printing of promotional materials.

What do I need to complete the application form?

Information required for all programs:

Application Form

• Applicant contact information;
• Business or organization information, including CRA registration number;
  • If applicable, Partnership information
• Project start and end date; 
• Additional sources of project funding;
• Recipient type (i.e. primary producer, agricultural landowner, processor);
• Type of industry (i.e. Dairy, potato, beef, hog, grains and oilseeds);
• Signature for declaration and consent to personal information; and
• Demographic information (optional).

Product and Market Development Project Details:

• Project proposal (1-2) pages with the following sections:
  • Cover page;
  • Executive summary;
  • Project objectives;
  • Timeline;
  • Results;
  • Sustainable CAP Outcome; 
  • Climate change/carbon sequestration;
  • Budget;
  • Evaluation;
  • Communication of support (if applicable)

For more information contact:

PEI Department of Agriculture 
11 Kent Street
PO Box 2000
Charlottetown PE C1A 7N8
Telephone: (902) 368-4880
Email: PMD@gov.pe.ca 

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) is a new $3.5-billion, 5-year agreement (April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2028), between the federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation, and resiliency of the agriculture, agri‐food and agri‐based products sector. The agreement includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and $2.5 billion in cost-shared programs and activities funded by federal, provincial and territorial governments..