All three prairie provinces now offer producers an online Environmental Farm Plan.

Manitoba and the Federal Government announcing the release of the "online" program yesterday.

Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson says the EFP is a valuable and proactive risk management tool. 

"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."

The new online EFP program was developed by the Keystone Agricultural Producers.

Brenna Mahoney, KAP's General Manager says the online option provides more flexibility for producers.

"They needed access to a tool 24 hours a day that they could walk through easily on their farm to remove further administrative burden and oversight. This online digital platform allows for that. So it's been quite a few years in the making, just over two years, and producers have been a part of the process all along the way."

She notes Environmental Farm Plans are becoming standard practice now with more and more producers participating.

"This is something that people are seeing the benefit from and a lot of times it's a requirement depending on what commodity that they are selling. I think something that isn't to scare anybody or anything like that, but was announced this past year is potentially having your environmental farm plan or sustainability and stewardship tied to BRM funding. That is something that's now going to be in a pilot phase of being implemented by the federal government. We take that really seriously and want to make sure that farmers are not in a position by that, because sustainability is so variable. That sustainability question is definitely at the forefront of policy being developed today. "

She notes that producers take sustainability, and their farm seriously.

"I have not met a producer to date, that will not say this is my livelihood. This is my life, the stewardship of my farm and my land is everything to me. If they're able to provide that environmental farm plan as a part of the process and administration of that it does help it does help in that conversation with government. Absolutely."

Manitoba and the federal government invested $990,000 into the development of the online program in 2020 through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership platform.

Federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says Canadian agriculture’s long-term sustainability depends on its ability to adapt to emerging climate conditions.

"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."

Alberta and Saskatchewan already offer a free online option.

Alberta has been working on an updated webbook version to be released this fall.

More information on Manitoba's online Environmental Farm Plan can be found here.

Details on Saskatchewan Environmental Farm Plan is available here.

Click here for and Alberta's Environmental Farm Plans.

You can listen to Glenda-Lee Vossler's interview with KAP General Manager Brenna Mahoney by clicking on the link below.