Helping Manitoba farmers develop an environmental farm plan

Oct 12, 2022

Producers can complete a self-assessment online

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A new resource is available to help Manitoba farmers develop individual farm plans.

The provincial and federal government announced the launch of the online Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) platform.

Since 2004, Manitoba’s EFP program has been delivered through in-person workshops with farmers completing paper workbooks.

The online platform provides farmers with access to resources to help prioritize best management practices.

Using the EFP platform is voluntary and provides farmers with a confidential self-assessment of his or her farm. And EFPs are required for farmers to access many cost-shared programs.

“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,” Derek Johnson, Manitoba’s ag minister, said in a statement.

Manitoba EFP screenshot.

The platform includes national and international standards.

This allows farmers to address market requirements for specific commodity groups.

In addition, once a producer has completed an EFP workbook, he or she can submit it to KAP for a third-party review.

“This new platform will help increase the accessibility of the EFP program for Manitoba producers and sends a strong signal to consumers about the efforts taken to deliver sustainably grown agricultural products to the marketplace,” said Bill Campbell, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers.

Developing the EFP platform has been in progress for two years.

In 2020, the governments of Manitoba and Canada, through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, invested $990,000 to Keystone Agricultural Producers for this purpose.

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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