You bring up a very important point.
I think the best venue for success is to help those who want to help themselves. That's probably one of the best ways you can succeed in something, especially when you're looking at opportunity. I do agree. There was the earlier mention about programs, but there's a very small uptake of these programs.
One of the things I handed out to your group was “Success and Sustainability”, from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. With regard to the recommendations in there, the first one is “Centralize government loan and grant applications for Aboriginal businesses in agriculture on a platform. This could be organized by level of government (municipal, provincial, federal, or by region).” The second one is “Simplify the process of applying for government grants.”
You're talking about people in agriculture, and they're easily frustrated and will walk away.
The third one is “Support the identification, certification, and branding of [first nations] businesses in the agriculture sector and promote these businesses within government and corporate supply chains.”
I would even say to go more so to the international community.