Building On-Farm Resilience and Lowering Emissions Across Canada

The Farm Resilience Mentorship (FaRM) Program began in 2021 as a free, peer-to-peer program that operates nationally, adapts regionally, and provides mentorship and knowledge sharing. FaRM supports producers to improve nitrogen management, cover cropping, and rotational grazing as pathways to boosting soil health, enhancing profitability, building on-farm resilience, and reducing GHG emissions. With partners across the country, FaRM has engaged over 10,000 Canadian farmers and ranchers, representing over 8 million acres, through courses, workshops, field days, mentorship, and the FaRM Learning Hub. In the 2024 FaRM Impact Survey, 89% of farmer/rancher respondents reported they implemented, expanded, and/or enhanced a BMP, while 11% intended to. The top barriers to BMP adoption were resources, cost/cash flow, and unclear return on investment, underscoring the need for regionally specific advice tied to economics and improved adviser capacity. Guided by FaRM’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework and sector consultations, the next phase adds FaRM field trials, an agricultural advisor network, enhanced training, and a curated extension journal. By strengthening agricultural adviser capacity in low-emissions, high-resilience BMPs, FaRM supports sustained practice adoption and builds on-farm resilience across Canada.