On April 1, 2018, the Canadian Agricultural Partnership was launched.
The Canadian Agricultural Partnership, promoted as CAP, is a five-year, $388 million investment by federal and provincial governments in strategic initiatives for Saskatchewan agriculture. One of the areas that CAP programming provides cost-shared funding is to support rural water development for agricultural use, through the Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program (FRWIP) and environmental programming, through the Farm Stewardship Program
The Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program (FRWIP) provides rebates to develop secure and sustainable agricultural water sources, such as wells, dugouts and pipelines. The program also supports rural well decommissioning and special projects. Dugout, pipeline and well projects are eligible for a maximum rebate of 50 per cent of eligible costs. Eligible applicants can receive a rebate for more than one project, but cannot exceed a maximum of $50,000 for dugout, pipeline and well projects over the five-year program term. All applicants must demonstrate an agricultural use for the water, such as crop spraying, livestock watering or greenhouse production.
The Farm Stewardship Program (FSP) provides eligible producers with funding to implement beneficial management practices (BMPs) in three priority areas – water, climate change and biodiversity. The FSP focuses on four outcomes:
- Demonstrated improvements on water quality
- Demonstrated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions;
- Enhanced resilience of the agriculture sector; and
- Biodiversity is maintained.
Under the FSP, 10 BMPs exist. Each BMP has its own funding limits and eligibility requirements. When applying to the FSP, two types of program applications exist – pre-approval or rebate. Pre-approval applications require that projects must receive prior approval before any work is completed. Rebate applications do not require pre-approval, and the program application can be submitted once the project is complete.
For producers wanting to improve the grazing management on native rangeland or riparian areas, two BMPs exist. The Native Rangeland Grazing Management BMP and Riparian Grazing Management BMP are pre-approval applications. Producers must submit a pre-approval application prior to starting the project. The FSP will cover 50 per cent of the eligible costs up to a maximum of $10,000 for implementing either of these BMPs.
Producers looking to convert highly erodible and/or saline land from annual grain production to permanent cover can apply to the Permanent Tame Forage BMP. This BMP is a pre-approval application and requires the producer to receive pre-approval of the forage blend prior to seeding. Cost-shared funding is available to cover 50 per cent of the eligible costs up to a maximum of $10,000.
Accessing funding under the CAP program requires that all producers meet basic eligibility requirements. Each type of project also has specific guidelines relating to producer eligibility and eligible and ineligible project costs.
For further information on CAP programs or for technical assistance regarding a specific on-farm project, visit the website at www.saskatchewan.ca/cap. You can contact a Agriculture Programs Specialist or Ministry of Agriculture Agri-Environmental Specialist at your closest Regional Office or call the Agriculture Knowledge Centre at 1-866-457-2377 for programming inquiries.
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