Investment Agriculture Funding
Aspen Lands Advisory Ltd. has had past success implementing the Agricultural Water Infrastructure program for owners of agricultural lands and have played a vital role in coordinating the process for our clients. Our team highly recommends the additional grants available, such as the Environmental Farm Plan and Best Management Practices programs for all ALR and agricultural landowners implementing agricultural practices. We encourage consideration of submitting applications for all three funding streams and to implement an Environmental Farm Plan for your site/ project.
While there are costs associated with the preparation of these applications, our team has the skills and background in writing these applications and can provide a comprehensive quote to anyone who is interested. We can then advise on any cost-sharing opportunities for implementing infrastructure and lead the approval and funding process. While we cannot guarantee success in receiving all funding applied for, we have been successful in the recent past in receiving funds for multiple clients.
We appreciate your consideration and for the opportunity to work with you on your projects and continue to look forward to working with you!
Benefits of each initiative
Agricultural Water Infrastructure (AWI)
Objectives: Target funding in water-scarce and drought-prone areas that will be increasingly stressed by climate change, that will benefit from more efficient infrastructure or storage to maximize available water for agricultural uses particularly irrigation and livestock watering; improving water security for agriculture and food security in B.C.
Stream 1: Producer Projects
Grant covers 50% up to $1,000,000
Eligible costs:
-Rehabilitation and upgrades of (regulated and unregulated) agricultural dams and reservoirs to meet regulatory requirements.
-Improvement, expansion or new construction of dugouts and related storage infrastructure for irrigation water and livestock watering including rangeland.
-New construction of other water storage infrastructure.
-Improvement, expansion or new construction of off-farm conversion of conveyance ditches to pipelines where savings of 30 to 50% can be achieved.
-Improvement, expansion or new construction of water delivery systems to the farm gate from off-farm storage infrastructure and licensed intakes on streams.
Applications accepted until August 8th, 2024, 4pm.
Stream 3: Assessments, Engineering Studies or Plans
Grant covers 50% up to $200,000
Eligible Costs:
-Water supply assessments or feasibility studies in key agricultural areas to determine available water supply.
-Engineering studies or plans for water purveyors to assess and determine opportunities for upgrades and expansion of existing purveyed water systems.
-Dam engineering assessments including redetermination of Consequence Classification.
-Dam Emergency Plans.
-Dam Safety Reviews.
-Other Professional Consultative Services as required under the Dam Safety Regulation (DSR).
-Drainage master plans, dike engineering studies or design plans, or any professional consultative services on drainage or dikes to assess and determine opportunities for upgrades or expansion of existing diking and drainage infrastructure.
Applications now being accepted until funding is allocated.
Environmental Farm Plan
On-going Applications
Objectives: To identify potential environmental, regenerative agriculture and climate risks within a farmer and rancher’s (Producers) operations and educate them about how these risks can be mitigated. The purpose of the EFP is to raise environmental awareness amongst farmers and ranchers and to improve or enhance their environmental stewardship practices and the sustainability of their operations. The benefits of this program include assisting producers in completing new Environmental Farm Plans (EFPs) and supporting producers to identify opportunities for funding through the Beneficial Management Practices program.
Beneficial Management Practices Program
On-going Applications
Objectives: The Beneficial Management Practices Program (BMP) is an on-farm cost-share incentive program to assist farm and ranch operations to mitigate some of the risks identified in their associated Environmental Farm Plan (EFP). The BMP Program is a five-year investment program funded by federal, provincial, and territorial governments through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), with $3.5 million available in 2024/25 to help producers contribute to a cleaner, healthier environment with projects that improve: waste management, air quality control, emissions control, soil and riparian integrity, and environmental impacts.
