Dairy Farmers of Canada - Dairy Production Research Funding Program 2025-2026

Sponsor

Dairy Farmers of Canada

Program

Dairy Production Research Funding Program

Description

The objective of the Dairy Production Research Funding Program is to foster on-farm innovation, increase farm efficiency and sustainability, enhance animal health, care and welfare practices, and deliver tangible benefits to dairy farmers as well as the broader dairy sector. 

Research projects submitted under the Program should aim to address issues that have a national perspective. 

Please refer to the Appendix in the Dairy Production Research Funding Program Guidelines for the targeted research priorities.

Eligibility

Researchers from Canadian universities and colleges and/or federal or provincial research centres are eligible to apply to the Program. Non-Canadian researchers could be considered as co-investigators or collaborators. 

The Principal Investigator is responsible for the complete direction of the approved Project and for other activities related to its efficient execution. The role of the co-investigator(s) in the Project must be clearly defined. Students and trainees are normally not eligible to act as co-investigators.

A researcher cannot be the Principal Investigator for two projects simultaneously carried out under this Program. However, the same researcher can be a co-investigator for no more than one additional project. 

Networking is encouraged. Whenever possible, projects should involve complementary teams of researchers from across Canada. 

Ineligible Projects: Research and development activities primarily aimed at developing, validating, or promoting commercial products or services are not eligible under this Program. Projects whose main objective is to generate data for a specific company or to demonstrate the effectiveness of a product, technology or service are also ineligible. In addition, private companies may not participate as co-investigators or collaborators.

Ethics and Animal Care Approvals: Projects involving animals must receive prior approval from the institution’s Animal Care Committee, in accordance with the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). Although this approval is not required at the time of proposal submission, it must be obtained before research activities can begin. Researchers are encouraged to initiate this process as early as possible to avoid delays if funding is approved.

Funding Availability

The total amount requested from DFC can be up to $150,000 and represent up to 50% of the total Project budget.

Matching funding/other sources of funding: The funds that will be requested from other sources must be described in the Budget section of the PDF forms. Principal Investigators must have verified with the funding agencies/partners if the Project complies with their research priorities and guidelines. 

Matching funds must cover at least 50% of the total Project budget and must come from sources other than dairy farmer organizations (e.g., government, academia, other agriculture or food industry partners). In-kind contributions may be considered as matching funds, such as scholarship for summer and/or graduate students, materials and supplies, technician and/or professional time, user fees and laboratory analyses. Please note that an NSERC Discovery Grant is not eligible as matching funds. 

Principal Investigators must submit their Projects to the funding agencies/partners for matching funds no later than 90 days after the receipt of the conditional approval of the Project by DFC, unless specified otherwise in DFC’s decision letter.

Indirect Costs

0%: DFC will not pay the research institution, the Principal Investigator and/or the coinvestigator(s), as the case may be, for any indirect costs for DFC funded projects. 

Matching funds will be subject to the Full Cost of Research Policy. 

Project Duration

The funding provided under the Program is for a duration of one (1) to five (5) years.