As a farmer, many key choices need to be made to help improve the health and value of your farm, improve your business and leave behind a legacy for the next generation of farmers.
If you take care of your land, your land will take care of your business in more ways than one.
The Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) is a voluntary and confidential, self-assessment process that helps farm managers identify the agri-environmental assets and risks on their operations and develop an action plan to reduce the identified risks. By abiding by this voluntary assessment you can increase your chances of being the winning application in any funding that is environmental based in the agriculture industry.
The EFP has been designed to address priority issues that include the potential environmental effects of agriculture on the:
- quality and supply of water resources
- health and quality of soils
- air and atmospheric quality
- biodiversity and agricultural landscapes
EFPs remain and continue to be a high priority for Federal and Provincial governments in 2016. Since 2004, over 6,000 producers have participated and completed an EFP in Canada, assessing over 9.3 million acres of land and in return being used for writing your business case for your grant application.
The continued adoption of environmental farm planning will enhance Canada’s reputation as a supplier of safe, high-quality foods that are produced in an environmentally responsible manner.
By participating in this process, producers are able to:
- identify existing environmental assets on their farm
- raise awareness of environmental risks on their farm
- identify actions to reduce risks
- improve environmental sustainability
- improve production efficiency on the farm
By implementing an action plan and adopting beneficial management practices (BMP), producers are able to:
- help improve air, water and soil quality
- help conserve biodiversity on farmland
- help contribute to environmental protection and conservation
- make commodities more marketable to environmentally conscious consumers around the world
- demonstrate due diligence as part of a business risk management program
By following your local EFP and focusing on a niche funding programming that is tied to improving ones agriculture environmental footprint your chances of being the winning applicant increase as it sets you as a stand out from the rest of the applicant pack.
For more information on what niche farm funding program that is available to you please contact the Canadian Grants Business Center to see what programs meet your needs: