How to apply for the CEA Growth Pathway Program in Canada: two streams, the Project Summary Form, and the December 23, 2026 noon ET deadline.
Applies in: CA
The Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Growth Pathway Program provides $750 million over seven years under Canada's National Food Security Strategy, with the aim of year-round fruit and vegetable production across Canada, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Growth Pathway Program and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Government of Canada invests $750 million in domestic year-round food production to improve access to fruits and vegetables. Intake is open, and you can apply from October 30, 2026 to December 23, 2026, at 12 pm (noon) Eastern Time. The program ends March 31, 2033. This guide was checked November 4, 2026. The intake may close sooner if funding is fully committed, so check the stream's page on the day you apply and do not leave the form to the last day.
A Project Summary Form is not an award, and an invitation to Stage 2 is not funding. The program uses a two-stage structure: Stage 1 is the Project Summary Form, and Stage 2 is a fuller application for invited applicants only, as set out for the Technology Adoption Stream on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream — How to apply. This guide states no funding guarantee anywhere. It covers only the facts verified on the opened official pages listed in Sources. Where a reader needs detail the opened pages did not give, check the stream's page.
Controlled environment agriculture means growing crops where conditions can be controlled or managed, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream. Examples are greenhouses, vertical farms, and hydroponic systems. It also includes low-technology solutions, such as passive heating and protective structures extending the season for orchard and field crops, on the same page.
Start from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Growth Pathway Program. There are two streams. Follow the instructions on the stream page you are applying under. Do not treat the instructions for one stream as the instructions for the other, and do not assume the other stream uses the same form as the Technology Adoption Stream form named in step 4 — check that stream's own page.
The Technology Adoption Stream is $650 million, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream. It supports producers adopting, expanding, or modernizing CEA infrastructure and technologies, including automation, robotics, lighting, and digital growing tools. Its objectives include year-round production, diversifying into emerging or novel crops, productivity, resource efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness, and food security and resilience.
The Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream is $100 million, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream. It supports rural and northern communities developing solutions for their unique food-production challenges. It aims to improve access to locally produced foods, strengthen food security and resilience, and reduce reliance on long, vulnerable, high-cost supply chains.
The October 30, 2026 news release Quick Facts state the program is open to:
"Canadian producers, for-profit and non-profit organizations and Indigenous individuals and communities including First Nation, Inuit or Métis communities and/or government, not-for-profit associations, and other levels of government."
That wording is from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Government of Canada invests $750 million in domestic year-round food production to improve access to fruits and vegetables. This guide adds no other category. Check the stream's page for detail the opened pages did not give.
In both streams, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada may contribute $100,000 to $10 million toward eligible project costs if funded, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream.
In the Technology Adoption Stream, funding may be repayable or non-repayable depending on the nature of the project and the expected benefits, on the Technology Adoption Stream page. Projects generating benefits beyond private gain and advancing National Food Security Strategy objectives are generally considered for non-repayable funding. Projects primarily generating direct commercial benefit may be repayable. Priority is given to projects eligible for non-repayable funding. In the Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream, contributions are non-repayable only, on that stream's page.
Cost-sharing in the Technology Adoption Stream is normally a maximum Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada contribution of 50%, with the applicant contributing a minimum of 50%, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream. The maximum rises to 60%, 10 points above the normal maximum, if either (a) the project supports emerging or novel CEA crops with potential to reduce reliance on imports, or (b) the project is led by or majority-owned (more than 50%) by Indigenous Peoples, youth 35 and under, women, members of visible minorities or racialized communities, or persons with disabilities. The maximum rises to 70%, 20 points above the normal maximum, if both criteria are met. You must confirm eligibility for favourable cost-share; check the stream's page.
Cost-sharing in the Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream is normally a maximum Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada contribution of 75%, with the applicant contributing a minimum of 25%, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream. In both streams, the applicant portion must be cash. In-kind contributions may only be considered for Indigenous applicants. Check the stream's page for detail the opened pages did not give.
For the Technology Adoption Stream, Stage 1 follows the steps on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream — How to apply, in this order:
After you submit, staff contact you to discuss your form. If you are deemed to meet program priorities, you may be invited to Stage 2. A Project Summary Form is not an award, and an invitation to Stage 2 is not funding. If you need help, contact the AAFC Call Centre listed on the How to apply page linked above.
Stage 2 is only for invited applicants. Invited applicants get access to the CEA Technology Adoption Application Form online, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream — How to apply. Complete the application form, download, complete, and save the Detailed project budget, and upload the following:
Endorsement or support letters are optional. Complete the application details and submit, on the same How to apply page. Check the stream's page for detail the opened pages did not give.
For this stream, do not use the Technology Adoption portal steps in step 4. Start from the program page, open that stream's page, and follow its own How to apply instructions, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream. Complete that stream's Project Summary Form by the same deadline: December 23, 2026, at 12 pm (noon) Eastern Time. Follow the stream you are applying under, and check that stream's page for the form and steps it names.
For this stream, North means the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, plus the northern parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador, per the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC), and rural means all territory outside population centres, per Statistics Canada, on the same stream page. Check the stream's page if you are unsure whether your community falls under either definition, or for detail the opened pages did not give.
Submit the Project Summary Form for the stream you are applying under by December 23, 2026, at 12 pm (noon) Eastern Time, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Growth Pathway Program. The intake may close sooner if funding is fully committed. This guide was checked November 4, 2026. Recheck the stream's page on the day you apply, and follow the instructions on the page for the stream you are applying under. A Project Summary Form is not an award, and an invitation to Stage 2 is not funding.
The intake runs from October 30, 2026 to December 23, 2026, at 12 pm (noon) Eastern Time, and the program ends March 31, 2033, according to [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Growth Pathway Program](https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/controlled-environment-agriculture-growth-pathway). The intake may close sooner if funding is fully committed. This guide was checked November 4, 2026. Check the stream's page on the day you apply.
The Technology Adoption Stream, at $650 million, supports producers adopting, expanding, or modernizing controlled environment agriculture infrastructure and technologies, including automation, robotics, lighting, and digital growing tools, according to [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream](https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/controlled-environment-agriculture-growth-pathway/technology-adoption-stream). Its objectives include year-round production, diversifying into emerging or novel crops, productivity, resource efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness, and food security and resilience. The Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream, at $100 million, supports rural and northern communities developing solutions for their unique food-production challenges, according to [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream](https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/controlled-environment-agriculture-growth-pathway/expanding-local-food-production-rural-northern-communities). It aims to improve access to locally produced foods, strengthen food security and resilience, and reduce reliance on long, vulnerable, high-cost supply chains.
In both streams, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada may contribute $100,000 to $10 million toward eligible project costs if funded, according to [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream](https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/controlled-environment-agriculture-growth-pathway/technology-adoption-stream) and [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream](https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/controlled-environment-agriculture-growth-pathway/expanding-local-food-production-rural-northern-communities). In the Technology Adoption Stream, funding may be repayable or non-repayable depending on the nature of the project and the expected benefits. Projects generating benefits beyond private gain and advancing National Food Security Strategy objectives are generally considered for non-repayable funding, projects primarily generating direct commercial benefit may be repayable, and priority is given to projects eligible for non-repayable funding. In the Rural and Northern Communities Stream, contributions are non-repayable only. Cost-sharing differs by stream: check the stream's page and confirm eligibility for favourable cost-share before you apply.
The October 30, 2026 news release Quick Facts state the program is open to 'Canadian producers, for-profit and non-profit organizations and Indigenous individuals and communities including First Nation, Inuit or Métis communities and/or government, not-for-profit associations, and other levels of government', according to [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Government of Canada invests $750 million in domestic year-round food production to improve access to fruits and vegetables](https://www.canada.ca/en/agriculture-agri-food/news/2026/10/government-of-canada-invests-750-million-in-domestic-year-round-food-production-to-improve-access-to-fruits-and-vegetables.html). This guide adds no other category. Check the stream's page for detail the opened pages did not give.
No. A Project Summary Form is not an award, and an invitation to Stage 2 is not funding. In the Technology Adoption Stream, staff contact you to discuss your form after you submit it, and if you are deemed to meet program priorities you may be invited to Stage 2, according to [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology Adoption Stream — How to apply](https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/controlled-environment-agriculture-growth-pathway/technology-adoption-stream/how-apply). Funding, if any, is decided only through the full process for the stream you are applying under. Check the stream's page for detail the opened pages did not give.
North means the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, plus the northern parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador, as defined by the Standard Geographical Classification, and rural means all territory outside population centres, as defined by Statistics Canada, according to [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Expanding Local Food Production in Rural and Northern Communities Stream](https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/controlled-environment-agriculture-growth-pathway/expanding-local-food-production-rural-northern-communities). Check the stream's page if you are unsure whether your community falls under either definition.