Twenty-four innovators advance to Food Waste Reduction Challenge semi-finals

Ottawa, Ontario – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced the 24 semi-finalists for Streams A and B of the $20-million Food Waste Reduction Challenge, an initiative under the Food Policy for Canada.

The Challenge was launched in November 2020 to accelerate and advance diverse and high-impact solutions to food waste in Canada. Streams A and B focus on business model solutions that can prevent or divert food waste at any point from farm to plate.

This first round of the Challenge attracted 343 applications from innovators across Canada and around the world. The 24 semi-finalists’ entries span a diverse range of areas including production, inventory management, transportation, food waste measurement, marketplace solutions, food safety, food recovery, upcycling, and organic waste treatment.

Each semi-finalist will receive $100,000 and move on to the market demonstration stage of the Challenge. Over the next eight months, semi-finalists will pilot their solutions in Canada through rigorous testing, evaluation and reporting on their solution’s effectiveness. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will then select up to 12 finalists for Streams A and B. Each finalist will receive up to an additional $400,000, with one winner per stream awarded a grand prize of up to $1.5 million.