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Feds launch contest to modernize tree seedling production, packaging and transportation
November 15, 2021 By CFI staff
Seedling nursery on the Saanich Peninsula. Photo by Mike Lane. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is looking to fund new processes and technologies that reduce costs and wastes associated with tree seedling production, packaging and transportation.
Innovative Solutions Canada, led by NRCan, launched a challenge on Friday that will award businesses $150,000 to refine R&D, and then up to $1 million to develop a working prototype. The funding is part of the government’s 2 Billion Trees program.
“Canada’s forests have a critical role to play in getting us to our climate targets and protecting biodiversity,” Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, said in a government news release. “That’s why we’re helping businesses develop innovative tree planting techniques with challenges like this one, while growing Canada’s forests with investments like the 2 Billion Trees program.”
According to Statistics Canada, the country produced more than 5.1 billion tree seedling in 2020.
Challenge applications are open now and close Dec. 21.
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