Funding Runs Out as Farmers Flock to Climate-Friendly Practices
- Media Manager
- Jul 3, 2023
- 2 min read
The Energy Mix
Written By: Christopher Bonasia
Published: July 4th, 2023
Photo Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
Canadian farmers are eager to embrace carbon storage and greenhouse gas reduction programs, but some say a confused application process and lack of support hinders their access to the limited federal funding available.
In Alberta, for example, so many farmers have sought to implement beneficial management practices (BMPS) like nitrogen efficiency, cover cropping, and rotational grazing that the non-profit Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR)—selected by Ottawa to disburse funding from Canada’s $200-million On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF)—was forced to halt intake as it catches up on applications and assess the “remaining uncommitted funding for 2023.”
“What we’ve heard anecdotally from the [funding] delivery organizations is that OFCAF has been oversubscribed all over the country, and there are more applicants than there is money to go around for implementing these practices,” Brent Preston, board president at Farmers for Climate Solutions and farmer at the New Farm, told The Energy Mix.
Initiated in 2021 under the federal Agricultural Climate Solutions program, OFCAF is meant to support new BMPS that promote carbon storage and reduce farm emissions, while providing other benefits like improved biodiversity and soil health.
OFCAF covers up to 85% of the cost of implementing eligible practices, such as cross-fencing and remote waterers for rotational grazing, seeding costs for cover crops, or soil sampling and development of farm-specific fertilizer plans.
“I think it’s popular because producers are eager to try new managements that help them get some advantages or benefits,” Johanna Murray, extension coordinator with Peace Country Beef and Forage Association, told Alberta Farmer Express. “They’ve been seeing their neighbours successful with rotational grazing or other different best management practices.”
