Canada’s Environmental Farm Plan: Evaluating Implementation, Use of Services, and the Influence of Social Factors

Abstract

Canada’s Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) is a voluntary, self-administered education and risk assessment tool that assists farmers in developing customized action plans to address environmental risks on their farms. During 2010-11 a study was undertaken in Ontario to evaluate the level of implementation of the EFP, the use of related services and resources, and social factors influencing implementation and services used. A confidential survey of 189 Ontario farmers with EFPs revealed high levels of implementation and significant investments of time and money to reduce environmental risks and improve environmental conditions. Farmers completed or were implementing 67.5% (median) of their action plans, up from 55% reported in a survey in 1999. Farmers invested an average of C$69,600 per farm in agri-environmental activities (of which 73% was drawn from their own funds) and spent 130 hours of their time per farm. Percent implemented, time and cost are all much higher compared to the survey in 1999. Farmers used many existing services in preparing and implementing their EFPs. In 2010, social factors significantly influenced motivation, preferences and service needs including education, age and main commodity produced. Also in 2010, 95% percent of farmers reported perceived environmental improvements on their farm operations. The results emphasize the importance of combining risk assessment, education and financial incentives as well as offering a range of program services to appeal to the varied needs of different farmers.

Climate mitigation co-benefits from sustainable nutrient management in agriculture

“…Canada pursues a bottom-up strategy for reducing nutrients, relying on self-administered risk-assessment tools in terms of Environmental Farm Plans, that assist farmers in developing customized action plans to address nutrient leaching risks on their farms. Financial support is provided from the federal level to complement resources allocated by Provincial governments under their Environmental Stewardship Incentive programmes to accelerate the diffusion of Environmental Farm Plans across Canada, and emphasizing the role of farmers in optimising the N application rate and in delivering higher nutrient use efficiency (OECD, 2015b;Smith et al, 2020).…”

Trust, Risk, and Dissonance: Prairie Agriculture and Canada’s Environmental Farm Plan

“…They designed the EFP as a farmer-led educational initiative designed to teach farmers about environmental risks and assets on their farms (Robinson 2006b). During the 1990s, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces adopted the EFP or EFP-like programs, and by the mid-2000s, the Prairies and British Columbia followed suit (Smith et al 2020). In 2005, under the Agricultural Policy Framework, a National EFP Initiative systematized the program, defining the principles and elements that should be implemented in each province's EFP (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada 2009).…”

“…Smithers and Furman 2003;Summers, Plummer, and Fitzgibbon 2008), with additional work in Nova Scotia (Atari et al 2009). Within this body of literature, a primary focus has been on weighing participation against other concerns such as lack of privacy (Smithers and Furman 2003;Yiridoe 2000), issues with government control (Morrison and Fitzgibbon 2014), compliance with government regulations (Atari et al 2009), cost (Atari et al 2009;Boxall 2018;Smith et al 2020), and demographic variables such as age, income, and education (Robinson 2006b;2006a;Atari et al 2009). Researchers have also highlighted the lack of monitoring or assessment of the EFP and issues with determining how effective the program is (Atari et al 2009;Morrison and Fitzgibbon 2014;Robinson 2006a;Smith et al 2020).…”

“…62% of respondents went to the EFP for a project they already had in mind, such as no-till equipment or manure storage. Smith et al (2020) found that 45% of respondents changed their priorities regarding environmental actions once they created an EFP, encouraging them to act and prioritize additional projects. By building on farmers' internalized obligation to stewardship, the EFP is able to expand the quantity of projects that farmers wish to employ to improve their farms.…”