Canadian farmers who participate in one of the various provincial environmental farm plan programs, develop an environmental farm plan and receive approval for that plan are able to qualify for assistance to implement approved beneficial management practices.

There are 30 BMPs identified as eligible for funding under the national farm stewardship program.

Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company executive director Mike Slomp says adopting these BMPs offers several advantages.

Mike Slomp-Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company

The advantages are for producers the identification of risks on the farm and probably the most important issue there is the health of the farm family itself by protecting the qualify of the water that the family drinks, that the livestock drinks and the water that's used in irrigating farmland.

The environmental improvements are also an advantage to the producers from a cost perspective.

Producers learn about things like GPS systems for example.

GPS systems allow farmers to eliminate overlap and eliminating overlap means that they no longer double spray pesticides or fertilizers and the elimination of overlap also reduces the number of times the producer goes around the field reducing the amount of fuel used and that sort of thing.

From the public perspective we have a growing number of producers that can demonstrate that they have been taking greater care of the environment.

Slomp notes most producers have indicated they have learned a lot through their participation in the environmental farm planning process and one of the things they've learned is that they're already doing a lot of things well.

He says the added advantage is they're now able to demonstrate that.