Regional Extension Program

The Province is delivering a new five-year producer-focused research and extension program that started in April 2023. This new program builds on past work completed under the Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP).

Funding for the Regional Extension Program is provided by the governments of Canada and British Columbia. Funded in part under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. 

Program objectives

The primary objective of the Regional Extension Program is to help producers adopt beneficial management practices (BMPs) that make their operations more climate resilient, sustainable, and economically viable.

Through regional extension projects delivered by the ministry, the Regional Extension Program will:

1. Develop and share knowledge to support producers with BMP adoption
2. Support on-farm climate adaptation and greenhouse gas emission reduction
3. Foster collaboration and networking

Projects delivered through this program will address one or more of these priority areas:

• Soil health including carbon sequestration and nutrient management
• Water supply and management
• Waste management
• Greenhouse gas emission reductions
• Riparian, grassland and habitat management
• Reducing the impacts of wildfire
• Reducing the impacts of flooding and extreme precipitation events
• Reducing the impacts of extreme temperatures

Types of projects

The types of projects that will be funded and delivered through this program include:

• On-farm demonstrations and field days
• Knowledge transfer events, for example,. workshops, webinars, short courses, presentations
• Communications and digital resources such as factsheets, newsletters, videos, podcasts
• Development of decision-aid tools
• Knowledge development, for example applied research, literature reviews, gap analyses, feasibility studies, modelling, BMP datasets, curriculum development, BMP protocol development
• Relationship-building, such as farmer-to-farmer networks, discussion groups

16 projects began in 2023. Further information about projects can be found in the mid-year program report (PDF, 3.4 MB).  

A regional approach to extension

Farmers, ranchers, and key agricultural stakeholders will have the opportunity to contribute local knowledge to the identification, planning, and evaluation of extension projects.

The ministry is working directly with producers through regional extension committees, to identify their priorities and knowledge gaps. For example, committees are helping plan events in each region to get input from farmers and ranchers about local extension priorities.

Membership of each committee aims to represent agriculture in the region, and includes farmers, ranchers, and other key agricultural stakeholders.

Goals are to understand producers’ priorities and the types of extension activities that will provide the knowledge and support to grow more climate resilient, sustainable, and economically viable farming operations.

This is not an application-based program, so there is no formal opening or closing date for the program funding. 

Resources

The ministry has also developed regional guides as a resource for producers, on-the ground researchers, and consultants to reflect on the climate issues challenging environmental sustainability and local farm businesses and food production.

Regional guidebooks for:

• Central South Interior (PDF, 4.8 MB)
• Highway 16 North Cariboo (PDF, 4.5 MB)
• Islands and South Coast (PDF, 4.4 MB)
• Kootenay Boundary (PDF, 4.6 MB)
• Lower Mainland and Sea-to-Sky (PDF, 4.9 MB)
• Okanagan (PDF, 5.3 MB)
• Peace (PDF, 3.8 MB)

The issues highlighted in the guides were identified by a regional extension committee that represents the climates, soils, and commodity groups in each region, facilitated by the ministry.

The content of these documents may change as a result of further engagement with producers in the region.

How to get involved

If you were not able to attend one of our regional engagement sessions, we invite you to share your feedback via the survey below. Provide your input on: 

• Environmental and climate-related impacts affecting your agricultural operation
• Extension programs and services for your region 

Provide your input

Engagement sessions

Regional engagement sessions took place in Fall 2023.  

Program budget

In the first year of funding, $1.5M was allocated to support research and extension projects across the province. There is an additional $1.5M committed for 2024 to 2025.