The governments of Canada and Manitoba have expanded eligibility and are providing funding under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s carbon sequestration and grasslands resilience stream of the Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program (RALP) to support additional Manitoba producers, federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn announced in a media release on Wednesday (Dec 20).
“Expanding eligibility of carbon sequestration and grassland resilience practices under Manitoba’s Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program ensures all Manitoba producers are eligible to build on-farm resilience and adapt to our changing climate,” said Kostyshyn. “With increased climate variability making it even more difficult for producers, we need to make sure our programs align with the needs of Manitoba producers to encourage sustainable farming.”
The carbon sequestration and grassland resilience stream of RALP will now offer funding to all primary producers across the province, community pastures, agricultural Crown land forage lease holders and Indigenous primary producers and communities.
“Manitoba’s producers continue to lead when it comes to environmental stewardship and growing a more sustainable agriculture sector,” said MacAulay. “The Resilient Agricultural Landscapes Program will help producers implement more environmentally friendly on-farm practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve biodiversity.”
Beneficial management practices available under this expanded stream focus on program activities directed towards improving carbon sequestration, sustainability and productivity. These projects enhance valuable ecological goods and services and provide mitigation and adaptation practices to support producers in a changing climate, noted the ministers.
Beneficial management practices available for funding are agroforestry and grasslands and grazing management. The ministers noted selected applicants receive a maximum of $15,000 per project at 75 per cent of the total approved eligible costs. Projects have up to 18 months to be completed.
Applications are being accepted until Jan. 22, 2024. All projects must be on agricultural land and participating farmers must have a valid environmental farm plan statement of completion to submit with the project claim for reimbursement.
A separate stream under RALP, watershed resilience, has watershed districts as eligible applicants working with primary producers to improve watershed health. Producers can reach out to their watershed district to inquire about available programming.
The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year, $3.5-billion investment by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments that supports Canada’s agri-food and agri-products sectors. This includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and a $2.5 billion commitment that is cost-shared 60 per cent federally and 40 per cent provincially-territorially for programs that are designed and delivered by provinces and territories.
More information on this program can be found at Province of Manitoba | Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program: Carbon Sequestration and Grassland Resilience
