Alberta On-Farm Efficiency Program (OFEP)

Program Description

An Alberta cost-share grant, under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, that pays primary producers half the cost of technology that makes their use of inputs more efficient. It runs in four streams: Smart Farm Technology, Energy Efficiency, Farm Security and Efficient Grain Handling, with their own caps of $50,000, $50,000, $2,000 and $100,000 over the program term, inside an overall ceiling of $150,000 per applicant for 2024 to 2028. Eligible expenses are cost-shared at 50% grant and 50% applicant, except insulation, which is paid per square foot of coverage. Applicants must be a primary producer, an individual or a corporation registered in Alberta that manages an Alberta agricultural operation selling at least $25,000 worth of farm commodities a year and carries that operation's input costs, and must hold or commit to obtain an Environmental Farm Plan approval. Approved Indigenous applicants can be accepted without meeting the primary producer test. Applications closed on September 24, 2026 at 10:41 am Mountain Time and no reopening date has been announced; application processing is underway.

Eligibility Requirements

• Must be a primary producer: an individual or a corporation registered in Alberta that is responsible for the day-to-day management of an agricultural operation in Alberta, such as an annual crop, bee or livestock operation, that produces at least $25,000 worth of farm commodities sold annually
• The primary producer must be responsible for input costs for that operation
• A landlord whose only interest in the operation is ownership of the land is not a primary producer
• Approved Indigenous applicants (First Nation, Metis Nation, Inuit) may be approved by the Minister even where they do not meet the primary producer test, as the program aims for flexibility to reduce barriers
• Must have a valid and current Environmental Farm Plan approval as of the application date, or confirm to the Minister that one will be obtained and submitted with the final report
• The Environmental Farm Plan certificate or letter of completion must have been completed within the 10 years before the date the proposal is received, and is issued by the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta under the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan program
• The activity must relate to an agricultural operation located in Alberta that the applicant operates, and must be the purchase of an eligible item from the Funding List, or a technology or system the Minister considers substantially similar and in line with that item's stream
• Technologies the Minister considers widely adopted within the applicant's farm type may not be an eligible activity
• Expenses must be incurred by, invoiced to and paid by the applicant directly; expenses before April 1, 2023 are ineligible
• Submitting a completed application does not guarantee payment: funding is limited and applications are considered case by case against the eligibility criteria and funding availability, explicitly not first come, first served
• Successful applicants must enter into a grant agreement, which is an approval letter from the Minister for awards up to $50,000 and a long-form agreement for awards over $50,000