I think in the context of the estimates, that's the method by which we are appropriated and receive the funding that supports all of the programs that we deliver. In the context of the current agricultural policy framework, we of course have three major programs that we deliver federally, one of them being the agri-innovation program, one of them being the agri-marketing program, and the third one being the agri-competitiveness program. In addition to that we have a few programs that fall outside our agricultural policy framework.
In terms of the agri-innovation program in particular, it is the program that supports the funding of research and development, and that funding is often provided.... We support, for example, science clusters. We have 14 of those science clusters, and that funding can flow over a five-year period. They're quite large projects that support research and development that ultimately, at the end of the day, will be of benefit to producers. For example, we have a beef cluster, and the intention is that over time that research will actually translate and migrate at some point on farm and help producers who produce that particular commodity, and that would be true of all of our research clusters.
In addition, we support a variety of research and development projects that are often shorter in duration and much more focused. Again, the intention is really to have the results of those research projects transition over time and play out at a farm level. Not every one of them happens immediately. Sometimes it takes a period of time for the research to actually translate to a point where it can be commercialized and applied on farm, and of course, all of our provinces and territories fund innovation programming as well, through the cost-shared strategic initiatives funding that's provided to them. Again, that would be programming that would support projects, at a local and regional level, that would be of benefit to the sector in all parts of the country.
It's a comprehensive framework that provides support to individual projects that ultimately are supporting our producers.