Canada and Manitoba are launching a new online Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) platform, federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Manitoba Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson announced Tuesday.
“Manitoba’s new online Environmental Farm Plan allows producers greater access to resources, so they can prioritize best management practices that make the greatest impact on their farm,” said Bibeau.
The platform is a voluntary, confidential self-assessment of a producer’s farm. The purpose is to assess the features and management practices of a farm in order to develop an action plan to mitigate identified risks.
“It includes a strong educational component that will continue to provide positive environmental outcomes while enabling the province to meet its goals for enhancing public trust in the agricultural sector,” said Johnson.
A completed EFP is required for farms participating in most agri-environmental cost-shared programming.
Implementing an EFP will mean producers are able to improve air, water and soil quality, conserve biodiversity on Manitoba farmland, contribute to environmental protection and conservation, and make Manitoba-grown commodities more marketable to environmentally-conscious consumers, Johnson noted.
In 2020, Canada and Manitoba spent $990,000 through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership in a three-year contribution agreement with Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) to develop the online EFP platform.