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By Alice McFarlane

Sask. Environmental Farm Plan ends abruptly

Saskatchewan Environmental Farm plan program replaced

Jan 30, 2025 | 2:34 PM

A 20-year-old farm program has been decommissioned.

The Saskatchewan Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) is a federal-provincial program that assists farmers in identifying and assessing environmental risks. Eligible producers who complete the plan may be eligible for certain funding programs.

Speaking to reporters at the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference, Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison said the program had gotten stagnant.

“The uptake was very low, especially in the last couple of years. We worked with stakeholder groups, consulted in 2023 and 2024, and came up with a new environmental plan for 2025 that’s available now,” he said.

There are roughly 200 producers signed up under the new Agri-Environmental Risk Assessment. Harrison said the new program is more in tune with producers today.

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“Hopefully we’ll have better uptake. It’s online and it’ll work well for producers,” he said. “Certainly, producers can reach out to our extension offices for any assistance they require. We’re not through the first full month and having a little over 200 producers on, I think that’s a good start.”

Programming started in Ontario in 1993, and a national program was developed in the early 2000s. Saskatchewan is the first province to leave the program.

The Agri-Environmental Risk Assessment website stated as of Dec. 31, 2024, the EFP program was decommissioned. All information in the EFP portal has been archived by program administrators. More information regarding archived EFP documents is available by calling the Agriculture Knowledge Centre at 1‑866‑457‑2377 or by email at ag.info.@gov.sk.ca.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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