The Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Donald Martel, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Minister Responsible for the Centre-du-Québec Region, invite agricultural producers who wish to obtain support in adopting more sustainable agricultural practices to participate in the fifth registration period for the Rétribution agroenvironnementale (Agri-Environmental Compensation), an initiative of the Government of Quebec.
This initiative aims to recognize and encourage the efforts of agricultural businesses that implement good agro-environmental practices that benefit the environment and soil health. It offers direct financial assistance to producers, which can reach up to $50,000 per business for the next two growing seasons.
This launch is made possible by a new budget allocation of $17.65 million, which will enable more than 650 eligible agricultural businesses to participate. These funds will help accelerate the adoption of more ambitious agri-environmental practices, including crop diversification, off-season soil protection, reduced herbicide use, improved fertilizer management, and the implementation of biodiversity-friendly practices.
Through the Agri-Environmental Compensation program, which is partly funded by the Sustain-able Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the governments of Canada and Québec want to encourage producers to go further. The new registration period will run from March 10 to 31.
Results that reflect progress
In 2025, the assistance provided to businesses helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ap-proximately 85,000 tons of CO2 equivalent, either through reduction at source or carbon capture, and avoided the use of approximately 100,000 kilograms of active herbicide ingredients.
A flagship measure of the Plan d'agriculture durable (Sustainable Agriculture Plan) 2020-2030 (PAD), the Agri-Environmental Compensation program has been a resounding success since its launch in 2022: more than 3,300 agricultural businesses have committed to implementing eligible practices over a period of two to five years that will contribute to achieving the PAD's targets. This represents more than 20% of the priority target clientele and more than 40% of the annual crop area in Quebec.
