Dairy research funding applications.

Applying for research funding.

BC Dairy actively funds research projects that will support enhanced knowledge and innovation for the advancement of the dairy industry. We are passionate about supporting our academic dairy cattle experts across Canada and identifying and championing local innovators. 

We have two funding streams available: Academic, and Applied Innovation.

BC Dairy has adopted nine research priorities in the fields of animal health and welfare and environmental sustainability based on work done by Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC).  All research and innovation initiatives should be aligned with the research priorities or the BC Dairy strategic plan, which collectively should support industry sustainability, productivity, profitability, animal health and welfare, technological innovation, and environmental sustainability.

1. Academic Research Projects

The Academic stream is for projects conducted by faculty, associates, and graduate students of post-secondary institutions. An academic project will generally result in a peer-reviewed publication.

This stream is a multi-stage, annual competition designed to engage academic, technical, and industry experts to design and implement the most research with the greatest impact on dairy farms and the industry as a whole.

BC Dairy funds cannot be applied to administrative overhead costs greater than 10% of the approved funding total per application.

Process overview:

January – Letter of Intent (LOI) intake opens

February – Pre-LOI research meetings available upon request; 

Researchers have a chance to bounce ideas off of all or part of the technical working group to better address the issues facing the industry 

March 15 – Deadline for LOI submissions

April – Invitations to submit full proposals for all LOIs that meet the criteria

July 14 – Deadline for full proposal submissions 

July to September – technical reviews take place

October – Preliminary feedback and questions from technical reviewers (if any) is sent to applicants

January/February – final funding decisions are made and applicants are contacted.

2. Applied Innovation Projects

Projects in this stream are typically field trials, feasibility reports, etc. conducted by consultants, commercial entities, agrologists, local government, or producers, and may include academic support through partnerships. Field trials typically result in a final report, but not a peer-reviewed journal article.

This stream is a competition designed to support local field trials and demonstrations, feasibility studies, provincial surveillance studies, and investments in local innovation. We will update this space when an intake for the Applied Innovation stream is active.