What opportunities exist on your farm?
The Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) Program is a confidential, no-cost program providing BC farmers and ranchers the opportunity to identify climate risks on their farms.
Through this program, you will identify on-farm environmental and climate risks in your operations and learn how these risks can be mitigated, with funding support potentially being available through the Beneficial Management Practices (BMP) program.
How does it work?
IAF will connect you with an EFP Advisor who will work with you to complete the Environmental Farm Plan workbook, which will identify environmental and climate risks and describe how these risks can be mitigated. Your workbook’s contents are confidential; once complete, you can begin working on addressing those risks and implementing your EFP. See the BMP Program for funding opportunities for addressing EFP-identified risks.
Sign up for EFP Updates
Eligible Participants
Eligible Farms & Ranches
To access the EFP Program, participants (e.g., a farmer) need to be:
- Farm and ranch operations located in BC, including First Nations agricultural operations.
- Licensed Aquaculture producers or Federally licensed Cannabis or Hemp Producers.
One Environmental Farm Plan is available to each farm or ranch unit in British Columbia.
For the Environmental Farm Plan Program, a farm or ranch unit includes:
- Generally encompasses all the farming or ranching activities associated with a single Federal Business Number (formally known as the GST number);
- Encompasses all the agricultural activities usually associated with the farm unit;
- Normally includes all contiguous farm parcels but might also include remote parcels;
- May include land leased for a term equal to or exceeding five years;
- May include Crown lease land but not Crown license land;
- May include more than one agricultural enterprise; and,
- May consist of more than one owner.
Note: The EFP Advisor must verify whether a farm or ranch is eligible. What constitutes a “unit” is generally evident and determined by the Advisor during the producer’s farm visit. If an Advisor is uncertain of what constitutes a “unit,” they may seek assistance from IAF staff. If you have more than one “unit,” additional EFPs may be required.
Eligible Activities
- Get a new Environmental Farm Plan
- Renew an Environmental Farm Plan
- Riparian Health Assessment, if relevant to the farm or ranch
Getting Started
1 | Sign Up – IAF Client Portal
Note: it can take up to two business days to validate your organization.
To request an EFP, you must first create an IAF Client Portal account and register your organization by navigating to the IAF Client Portal and selecting “Create an account now.” If you have applied to IAF-delivered programs in the past few years, you’re likely already signed up and registered and can skip this step.
Register your organization
1. Primary Contact Information
This is the information needed for your account:
- Name
- Job Title
- Phone Number
This is the information needed for your organization to be validated:
- Legal Organization Name (either Federal or BC)
- Operating Name (if different from legal)
- Organization Type (select from set options)
- Organization Address, Email, Phone number, and website
- Organization Registration Date (either Federal or BC)
- Head Office Location
- BC Registration ID (to look up your BC ID, click here)
- CRA Business Number
- NAICS Code 6-digit (select from set options – click here for guide)
- Primary Purpose of Operation (select from set options)
- Sector Group (select from set options)
- Region (select from set options)
IAF Client Portal emails are sent from do-not-reply.grants@fluxx.io. Please save this as a contact in your email.
The IAF staff need to validate your organization (confirm legal business name, BC registration etc.) It can take up to two business days to validate your organization. If you haven’t received an email in three business days, check your spam folder, then contact IAF.
Bonus: You only need to sign up and register your organization once! When you apply for BMP funding or other IAF-delivered funding, you will already have done this step!
2 | Request an EFP
To make a request, navigate to the ‘Funding Opportunities’ tab in the IAF Client Portal and select the Environmental Farm Plan Program. When filling out your request, you will complete four sections:
1. Organization Information
This section is where you will provide program-relevant organization information that was not collected when you registered your organization with IAF. For EFP, this includes:
- Select your Organization (this is important for producers with more than one farm/business)
- Primary and Secondary Contact Information
- Business Type
- Farm Status
- Premises ID (if applicable)
- Opportunity to confirm Organization information (listed above)
2. Demographic Information
As this program is funded under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, you are required to provide additional demographic information. The demographic information is collected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and must be collected before submitting your application. To provide your demographic information:
- Start drafting your request in the IAF Client Portal.
- Copy your EFP ID (it will be provided to you at the Demographic data section of the application, or see the top of your application form). You will need to put this ID into the Ministry’s form.
- Visit the Ministry’s webpage through the link on the application and complete the form. (Note: this will open a new browser tab.)
- Once the form is complete, copy the Ministry’s confirmation number and enter it in the application form. It should look something like this AB123456
Note: Demographic information will not be used to assess eligibility for the program.
3. Request Overview
This section will require:
- Whether you have previously completed an EFP
- Your previous EFP Workbook number
- Information about your farm (closest city, region, primary commodity, size)
- Whether you are requesting a new or renewed EFP
- Whether there is a specific EFP Advisor that you would like to request
4. Declaration and Consent
This section is where you will review and sign the terms and conditions for applying to an IAF Program.
IAF recommends clicking ‘Save’ frequently as you work on your request in case of an unexpected disconnection. Once you are finished editing, click ‘Save and Close’ to minimize the editing panel and take you back to looking over your request.
Submit: Click ‘Save and Close’ when you are finished editing your request. Then click ‘Submit’. You will receive an email confirming that your request has been received and confirming the next steps.
Please note: IAF Client Portal emails are sent from do-not-reply.grants@fluxx.io and may be diverted to junk or spam folders.
Have a Question? IAF is here to help!
Book a Call
Have a detailed question about the Environmental Farm Plan? IAF is here to help. You can book a 10-minute phone consultation with an EFP expert on the IAF staff member to discuss the EFP program.
We request that prior to booking an appointment, you start your request and provide the ID number (will resemble: EFP-202500-1####). This gives you and the IAF staff member a specific request to reference and provide support for during the scheduled phone call.
Completing your Environmental Farm Plan
Once IAF has confirmed your EFP Request, we will get you in touch with an EFP Advisor. Your advisor will visit the farm to complete the environmental farm assessment.
They will provide you with an EFP workbook during your on-farm appointment. This workbook is confidential and yours to keep. Your advisor will work through the workbook with you to identify any environmental risks on your farm using the colour-coded checklist.
Once all questions have been answered, an action plan has been developed to address/prioritize red/yellow box questions, and a statement of completion has been signed by both you (the producer) and your advisor. Congratulations! You now have a completed EFP!
Your Advisor will provide a Statement of Completion (SOC). Hang on to this! This SOC is used to apply for funding opportunities and as proof of assessments in other programs, such as the Beneficial Management Practices Program, BC Dairy’s ProAction Environment module, or the AgriInvest program delivered by the Government of Canada.
Apply for Funding
Funding is available to help reduce the environmental risks identified within your EFP workbook (i.e., red box answers).
Projects that can be funded through the Beneficial Management Practices program include waste management, air quality control, emissions control, soil and riparian integrity, water quality, and on-farm materials storage.
Implement your EFP
To qualify for implementation of your EFP and get your EFP sign, you must complete your workbook (reviewed by an Advisor), with no outstanding items requiring attention (red box answers).
There are funding opportunities to support your implementation, namely through the Beneficial Management Practices program.
Once implemented, your EFP Advisor will provide a certification of implementation. Contact your EFP Advisor to start the process, or reach out to IAF, and we’ll get you in touch.
Once an Advisor has signed off on implementation, you can request a sign and/or certificate to proudly show your farm’s environmental sustainability and help spread the word!
Implementation signs were redesigned in 2018 and do not include frames or hardware. Implementation signs are mailed quarterly from the IAF office.
Renew your EFP
EFPs are valid for five years. After that, you must renew your EFP. Additionally, an EFP renewal may be needed if your EFP no longer reflects your current farming operation.
Three primary reasons for producers to update their EFP include:
- Their EFP is more than five years old.
- Changes to the farming operation – A 20% or more change to acreage or animal numbers requires a renewal.
- Changes to legislation or program priorities – Legislation and program policies and priorities are continually updated, which may require a producer to renew their EFP.
- To renew your EFP, follow the steps above for starting a new EFP request
Once your request for an EFP renewal is confirmed, we’ll connect you to the Advisor you previously worked with, or an Advisor of your choosing if available. Please ensure you have your previous EFP Workbook on hand for your farm visit – if you still have it.
Let the Advisor know if any changes in operation are impacting your environmental risk profile.
Review, Assignment, and More
Review
Requests will be accepted throughout the year, subject to available program funding. Upon submission of a request, it will be screened and reviewed by IAF. This review involves:
- Ensuring completeness.
- Organization/Applicant eligibility check.
- EFP program alignment and eligibility check.
IAF staff will return incomplete requests to applicants via the IAF Client Portal for resubmission with missing information/clarifications requested.
Want to know the status of your EFP Request?
Visit the IAF Client Portal anytime to see your status.
EFP Advisor Assignment & Notifications
IAF will assign an EFP request to an advisor within 2-3 weeks of submitting a request (typically faster!). The Advisor will be in contact within 2 weeks of receiving the request to arrange a visit to the farm or ranch. IAF will reach out to advise of any delays if these timelines cannot be met.
Delays & Withdrawing Request
Once an EFP request is submitted, it must be actively underway or completed within 4 months. If this timeline cannot be met due to delays on the producer side, the request will be withdrawn, and the producer will be invited to make another request when they are ready to proceed.
Please notify IAF immediately if you no longer wish to proceed with an EFP by contacting efp@iafbc.ca or withdrawing your request in the IAF Client Portal.
From time to time, Advisors may be unable to visit a farm within the four-month time frame. This can occur when there have been periods of poor weather, a farm is particularly remote, there are limited advisors in an area, or similar. In these cases, the request will not be withdrawn, and IAF is available to support completing the EFP.
Funding Acknowledgements
This program is funded by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. As such, acknowledgement of funding is required when publicly communicating about a project and/or funding. To ensure appropriate acknowledgement, all communications and marketing materials, including public announcements or social media posts, must be pre-approved by the IAF Communications Team. Materials can be submitted via the IAF Client Portal.
Project Profiles & Successes
Harbour Farm Organics
Elizabeth Kaplan2025-06-02T13:21:57-07:00May 8, 2025|
Brooklyn Blueberries
Elizabeth Kaplan2025-06-02T13:21:23-07:00May 8, 2025|
Bachmann Farms
Elizabeth Kaplan2025-08-15T16:14:40-07:00May 8, 2025|
Resources
FAQ
An Advisor will contact you within 3 months of your EFP Request submission. Though IAF strives to connect you with an Advisor sooner rather than later, the timeline depends on several factors, and the matching process can take up to 2-3 months, due to factors such as:
- A high number of EFP requests during the busy summer season.
- The availability of advisors in your geographical location.
- The commodity type.
Your advisor will be able to give you a timeline when they reach out. Many factors determine the length of time to complete an EFP, including the number of acres and complexity of your operation (i.e. riparian area, dairy operation, etc.)
A farm or ranch unit:
- Generally encompasses all the farming or ranching activities associated with a single Federal Business Number (formally known as the GST number);
- Encompasses all the agricultural activities usually associated with the farm unit;
- Normally includes all contiguous farm parcels but might also include remote parcels;
- May include land leased for a term equal to or exceeding five years;
- May include Crown lease land but not Crown license land;
- May include more than one agricultural enterprise; and,
- May consist of more than one owner.
What constitutes a “farm unit” is generally evident and determined by the Advisor during the producers on farm visit. If an Advisor is uncertain of what constitutes a “farm unit,” they may seek assistance from IAF staff.
Completed plans denote the following criteria:
- Producer has answered all the applicable Planning Workbook sections and completed all relevant Farm Review Worksheets.
- All questions initially answered with a (?) have now either a Yes, No or N/A response.
- An action plan has been developed to resolve all red and yellow box questions.
- All red box and yellow box questions have been prioritized based on the rankings on Page 79 of the 2023 version of the Planning Workbook.
- A Statement of Completion has been signed by both the producer and the Advisor.
Red box answers are items where a provincial or federal regulation applies to the farm, and a change is necessary. Once you have no red box answers, you are eligible for implementation with your advisors’ consensus.
Steps to implement your EFP include:
- Ensuring all action items for all red box questions (those with high priority due to an associated high level of risk) have been achieved (i.e., turned green).
- Verifying that you have addressed all the outstanding issues on their EFP Action Plan by:
- Reviewing the EFP Action Plan.
- Confirming all issues triggered by a red box in the EFP have been addressed.
- Confirming all Planning BMPs that the EFP triggered have been completed.
- Review and sign your Statement of Implementation alongside an Advisor
Make sure to get started with this process a few months before your EFP’s expiry date to ensure you maintain your eligibility for BMP funding.
The renewal process consists of four steps:
Step 1: Click here to book an appointment with your Advisor.
Step 2. Review the outdated workbook with your Advisor. If your previous Advisor has retired or left the program, IAF will connect you with a new Advisor.
Step 3. The advisor will recommend actions to follow.
Step 4: Once the required documents are submitted for review, there are three possible outcomes:
Outcome 1: No changes to the operation impact environmental risks on their operation
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- The original workbook has been retained, and the Advisor has a working knowledge of the operation.
- The Advisor reviews the new and original planning workbook and signs off on the EFP Renewal Assessment Form.
- The Advisor will review the original and current planning workbooks, assessment form and any files, maps, etc., to be comfortable with the knowledge of the site.
- A new Statement of Completion will be issued, identifying the original workbook number, original date, new workbook number, and new completion date with all signatures present.
Outcome 2: No changes that impact the environmental risks on their operation; the Advisor does not have a working knowledge of the operation or the original workbook has not been retained.
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- The producer (you) acknowledges there has not been a change in operation, but the Advisor does not have a current working knowledge of the operation and its activities. The Advisor must complete a full site assessment and verify that the farm operation has not undergone a change that would impact the environmental risks identified in the original EFP.
- The Advisor will review the Assessment Form against the original and current Planning Workbook, plus any files, maps, etc., to become familiar with the site. The Advisor will assist the producer in completing an updated action plan with the current program materials.
- A new Statement of Completion will be issued, identifying the original workbook number, original date, new workbook number, and new completion date with all signatures present.
Outcome 3: Changes that have impacted the environmental risk have occurred in operation.
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- The producer (you) completes the EFP Renewal Assessment Form and indicates a change in their operation (e.g., greater than 20% change in acreage or animal) that they believe has impacted their environmental risk profile.
- The EFP must be treated as a new EFP instead of a renewal due to the change to its environmental risk profile.
- The Advisor will review the Renewal Assessment Form, the original EFP (if retained), any files, maps, etc., and complete a site inspection to the same degree as if it were a new EFP. The Advisor will assist the producer in completing an updated Action Plan and updating the property mapping.
Your EFP number is a 7-digit number printed on the back cover of your EFP Workbook.
EFP Program Guide
Download the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) Program Guide.
EFP Sign
Have you implemented your EFP and would like to show it off with an EFP Sign?! Make your request here.
EFP Project Resource Hub
Visit the EFP Project Resource Hub to learn how to acknowledge funding, request a sign, and more!
EFP Reference Guide
Visit the Government of BC’s website to download the EFP reference guide to support the EFP Planning Workbook.
Biodiversity Guide
Download the Biodiversity Guide from the Government of BC’s website.
Link not working?
From time to time the links to resources change. We do our best to keep everything up to date, but in the meantime, visit the Government of BC’s Environmental Farm Plan Program page for more information.
Funding for this program has been provided by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a 3.5-billion, 5-year agreement between the federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation, and resiliency of the agriculture, agri‐food and agri‐based products sector. The program is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.
