The Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company (AEFP), which delivers Environmental Farm Plans (EFPs) in the province, and the Alberta 4-H branch of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD) have teamed up to introduce EFPs to senior 4-H members through a three-year project.

"I think it's a great opportunity for young people to start looking at what they want to do with their own farm," says Terri Potter, a 4-H specialist with AAFRD. "It's a way for them to ask themselves questions like, 'Do I want to be here, and if so, how am I going to make it work?'"

Participants in the 4-H Environmental Farm Plan project complete a series of small projects to assess the current farm operation from an environmental perspective, define goals and decide how to reach them. They do all that with the help of a team leader, an EFP peer review committee, as well as family members and workers involved with the farm.

If they choose, senior club members will find enough project ideas in the EFP guide to keep them actively involved for three years. "The important step is to get started and see where it leads," says Potter.

Creating awareness

An EFP is a free, voluntary self-assessment in which producers address the environmental strengths and weaknesses on their farms. The EFP process starts by attending two free workshops on the community level. In Alberta, more than 5,100 farm families and workers have already participated in the EFP process since it began in 2003. Translating this participation success to the younger generation is a shared goal of 4-H and AEFP.

Adults participating in the EFP program usually attend training workshops and complete a plan within a period of weeks, but because of the age and school commitments of 4-H members, the project spans three years.

Potter says young people participating in the EFP project, which they can now register for, will gain greater awareness of how farming practices can affect the environment. In addition to safeguarding the environment and increasing awareness, they can also get high school credits and have their farms qualify for government funding.

"It's a natural fit - youth and the environment," says Therese Tompkins, AEFP program director, explaining that the connection between 4-H and AEFP was made when EFP workshop facilitator Gladys Wachowich and Potter happened to come across each other during the course of a workday and determined this project was meant to be.

"By getting the younger generation participating, it gets the whole farm family involved," says Tompkins. "It's an educational process that identifies existing good management practices as well as high-risk areas where management changes are needed."

Reducing risks to the environment is obviously a key goal of the EFP program. Potter says agricultural sustainability across the province will benefit as people take notice and participate. "It's taking a closer look at all of our farming practices, like dumping used oil on the driveway to keep the dust down, which is something that has been done by our fathers and theirs. This is the beginning of changing practices like that."

The EFP project fits within the 4-H environmental project area, which includes Bird Nest Boxes, Outdoorsmen, Wildlife Habitat, Field Crops and Range Management projects. Potter says the EFP project is different, because it is only open to 4-H senior members 18 to 20 years old and it provides the "big picture" look at the farm or ranch operation.

"There are currently 212 environment members in the Alberta 4-H program," says Potter. "A lot of these young people already want to know how they can help the environment, so they will make good candidates for the EFP project. But they are not the only ones. Members in the beef and feedlot projects will be interested too, as it definitely relates to the work they're doing."

Danielle Schnurer, a long-time 4-H member raised on a family farm near Elk Point (southeast of St. Paul), agrees. "It brings about a whole new intellectual level about thinking of agriculture for 4-H kids," says the 19-year-old who worked as a summer student for AAFRD in 2005. "The 4-H motto is 'Learn to do by doing,' so I believe this project fits by giving members the opportunity to get some hands-on experience and gain knowledge they can use as farmers."

Aside from environmental benefits, Potter says 4-H members can also get high school credits.

"Kids are given the opportunity to use 4-H as a vehicle to complete CTS (Career and Technology Studies) modules," says Potter, explaining that CTS is an optional program provided by Alberta Education for the province's junior and senior high school students. The program helps students develop skills, investigate career options and just generally prepare for entry into the workplace or further learning.

To get high school credits through a 4-H project, says Potter, members need to identify qualifying segments of the project up front with their career councillor.

"It would be nice to have CTS modules specifically named Environmental Farm Plan," says Potter. "We're trying to look at links between CTS and all of our 4-H projects. The connection with the EFP project, I think, is a 'no-brainer,' but it takes time to introduce changes."

A bonus for the farm is that after a participating member's plan is reviewed by an EFP peer review committee, the farm can quality for up to $30,000 in funding on a cost-shared basis from the Canada-Alberta Farm Stewardship Program (CAFSP) to help implement changes in management and farming practices.

"It would be difficult for a 4-H member, who really doesn't have an income, to be able to help raise this kind of money for the farm," says Schnurer, whose siblings are involved in the 4-H program and the family's cow/calf operation.

Project description

Projects on either the family or a friend's farm can be completed over three years. During the first year, members attend two local EFP workshops and complete the EFP workbook. Members will also participate in regular 4-H Achievement Day activities.

Potter also encourages participation from parents or the farm's primary owner or stakeholder in the planning process.

"If a son, daughter, niece or nephew says, 'We need to do this and that and move this over here,' an adult isn't going to buy into that process. It is helpful, if not necessary, for parents and adults to be involved in the whole process."

In the second year of the club project, members review the plan, then update the Risk Assessment and My Farm Plan documents to incorporate changes that may have taken place on the farm since year one. The completed plan is submitted confidentially to the local review committee, and any further recommendations are included in the plan. Finally, members must develop an action plan to address at least one risk identified in the plan.

The final year includes further review and updating of the plan and further steps to implement management changes. Members can also participate as review committee members in-training as part of the third year project outline.

Getting involved

Although participation in the project is only open to senior 4-H members due to the depth of the subject matter and the amount of self-work, parents and other adults can get involved in supporting roles.

"A senior member can do this on his own, but he or she will have to be really self-motivated," says Potter. "If a family member isn't able to act as an advisor, a member of the EFP delivery team can help."

Like all projects, members can register for the EFP project this fall during the traditional project registration period.

"We always encourage parent or adult participation," says Potter. "If they want to get involved in the EFP process, the obvious link is to become a project leader."

For more information on the program, contact the Alberta 4-H office at (780) 422-4H4H, or the AEFP office toll-free at 1-866-844-2337.

This article is reprintable with credit to AEFP as follows "Reprinted courtesy of the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company; www.albertaEFP.com".