Alberta opens $60 million challenge for agriculture, water and land technology pilots

Emissions Reduction Alberta opened a CAD$60 million Agriculture, Water, and Land Challenge on October 23, inviting proposals to move technologies from testing toward field use. The funding call covers agriculture and agrifood, forestry, water, land management, reclamation, remediation and waste. ERA says projects may include scale-up, prototypes, field pilots, demonstrations and first-of-kind commercial deployments. It is a competitive funding opportunity, not an announcement of grants already awarded.

The program is financed through Alberta’s industry-supported Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Fund. ERA’s call invites expressions of interest by December 16, 2026, at 5 p.m. Mountain Time. Applicants can be based inside or outside Alberta, but each funded project must be piloted, demonstrated or deployed in the province and show benefits for Alberta. The agency says the selection process has two stages: an expression of interest and then a full proposal for shortlisted applicants.

Eligible requests range from CAD$250,000 to as much as CAD$10 million per project, according to the detailed challenge page. Applicants must provide at least a one-to-one funding match, and eligible cash and in-kind contributions from applicants and partners can count. The $60 million is the overall challenge envelope; the release does not say that the full amount will be committed, how many projects will be selected, or how much each sector will receive.

The challenge focuses on technologies that can be tested under real operating conditions. Examples include precision agriculture and robotics, livestock methane reduction, food processing, irrigation optimization, water treatment, contaminated-soil remediation, mine-water treatment, reforestation and waste-to-value systems. Projects must connect measurable environmental outcomes—such as water savings or emissions reductions—with practical benefits such as productivity, reliability, cost or serviceability.

The call excludes standalone laboratory research, feasibility or market studies, front-end engineering, software without field deployment, ordinary facility upgrades and routine use of commercially available technology. Supporting research or software work may be included when it contributes to an eligible deployment. These conditions steer the program toward demonstrated technology, rather than research alone or standard capital replacement.

ERA says an independent fairness monitor will oversee evaluation by subject-matter experts, with the agency’s board making final funding decisions. Review criteria include technical opportunity, readiness, expected emissions reductions, other environmental and socioeconomic benefits, and commercial potential. Recipients must report project results and lessons, including emissions and other environmental, economic and social benefits; public reports are intended to help others judge the potential for wider adoption.

The funding call is open to farmers, ranchers, processors, forestry groups, technology developers, Indigenous organizations, municipalities, utilities, research institutions and other applicants. The release positions the challenge as a way to close the gap between promising technologies and operational deployment, while requiring Alberta-based testing and co-funding. No particular technology or recipient is named as funded in this announcement, and all project outcomes remain prospective until awards and demonstrations occur.