A milestone year for the Environmental Farm Plan.
This is the 25th anniversary for the program designed to help farmers help the environment.
An estimated 390 million dollars worth of on-farm environmental improvements have been supported by EFP associated incentive programs since it's inception.
About a third of that money has come from the government, the remainder from farmers and other funding sources.
The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association administers it.
Harold Rudy was Program Manager when the EFP was created.
He says it was a proactive way for the farm sector to address environmental concerns being expressed by the provincial government in 1990.
Rudy credits the local farmer committees and delivery staff in every county and district in Ontario for the success of the program.
"They were the ones that carried the torch and given the responsibility of promoting and communicating the benefits. I think without them we would have had a very tough row to hoe."
He also believes it benefited from the fact that when you get to the bottom line, producers want to do the right thing.
A new workbook is created for the Environmental Farm Plan every 4 or 5 years.
Rudy says that keeps it up to date with new regulations and with current issues.
However, he says the structure remains the same, making it easy for farmers to revise their own plans without having to deal with a whole new structure.
Over 40 thousand Ontario farm businesses have voluntarily participated in over 35 hundred educational workshops since the EFP's inception.
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Harold Rudy gives a lot of the credit for it's success to the local farmer committees and delivery staff in every county and district in the province.
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Harold Rudy helped set the program up.
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He calls it an example of how farmers need to be on top of issues, especially when dealing with governments that are highly urban-based.
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