The purpose of the BC Wine Grape Council is to coordinate and facilitate research on viticulture and enology to broadly benefit the BC wine grape industry and to represent growers on a variety of agriculture related issues.
We facilitate research by leveraging funding provided by Federal and Provincial programs on behalf of our industry members. Programs that we are actively engaged in include those supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) such as the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) Program, Growing Foward 2, the Agri-Innovation Program, and the AAFC Industry-led R&D Stream
Research priorities are reviewed and determined on an annual basis by the R&D Committee. New, short-term (1-2 year), projects are reviewed each November by the R&D Project Review Committee, a sub-set of the R&D Committee comprised exclusively of Industry Members. Funding comes available for these projects in April. Projects may or may not leverage additional funding through organizations such as NSERC, MITACS, and the Investment Agriculture Foundation.
Multi-year projects facilitated under CAP or similar programs are typically reviewed every 5 years and are coordinated through research institutions including the University of British Columbia and Summerland Research & Development Centre. The current CAP program extends from 2018 - 2022.
2023-2028 Canadian Agricultural Partnership program
The BC Wine Grape Council has been working with industry, stakeholders and the research community to develop a list of research priorities that will inform investment decisions for the upcoming Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) National Funding Cluster administered through the Canadian Grapevine Certification Network (CGCN).
The attached Primer and Priority List outlines the goals of the upcoming CAP program and includes the BCWGC timeline for receiving Letters of Intent and Proposals from the research community. It also includes the research priorities that have been developed by the wine and grape industry over the past two months.
We invite you to review the priority list and distribute it within your networks. Please review the timeline and guidelines for applications and get in touch with us if you have any questions about the process or program in general. You can email Executive Director, Kate Durisek, info@bcwgc.org with your inquiries.