Fast-growing soil health network set to expand into Canada, bringing advisor-led, locally focused training and technical assistance to the Prairie provinces

The Trusted Advisor Partnership (TAP), a soil health up-skilling program designed by and for crop advisors, is taking root in Manitoba and Saskatchewan with support from leading food and beverage companies, NGO collaborators, and scientific partners. The Canadian Prairies Trusted Advisor Partnership will launch its first cohort at the start of 2025 as a counterpart to the North Dakota Trusted Advisor Partnership, which formed in 2022 to provide Certified Crop Advisors (CCAs) with practical soil health training.

The Trusted Advisor Partnership aims to fill the continued gap in technical assistance for science-driven soil health management in the Prairies. By providing agronomists with the next-generation skills, technological know-how, and professional networks to expand their consulting footprint to thousands of additional acres, TAP is a lever for rapidly scaling sustainable agriculture to enhance farm resilience.

The Canadian Prairies TAP is supported by General Mills, PepsiCo, Bimbo Canada, Nature United, and South East Research Farm, and will offer a masterclass in soil health agronomy, water management, and diversified cropping systems, covering established and emerging stewardship practices in topics like residue management, zone mapping, variable rate technology, and tillage reduction. The initial cohort will open to CCAs in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the program is poised to expand to other provinces in the future. Brandon, Manitoba-based Assiniboine College – recognized for its leadership in agriculture extension, e-learning, and its career accelerator for pork technicians – will host the TAP curriculum and coordinate the issuance of Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

“The TAP program is an obvious fit for our current set of programs, and our long-term priorities as a learning hub in the Prairies,” remarked Assiniboine’s Tim Hore, Dean of Ag & Environment. “Assiniboine is a national leader in flexible, adaptive, distance learning, and TAP provides the practical information and peer networking that crop advisors require to make sustainability a core part of their business, now and in the future.”

In the Northern Great Plains and Prairie Pothole regions, areas of the U.S. and Canada where rich ecosystems are threatened by erosion, weather extremes, and disease and pest pressures, TAP is accelerating the transition of hundreds of thousands of acres to sustainable management in the coming years by empowering trusted advisors and their farmer clients. The North Dakota TAP, which offers a three-month online training curriculum, in-person workshops, and financial incentives to participating farm advisors and producers, has garnered strong interest so far. More than 30 independent CCAs have graduated from the unique curriculum, which focuses not only on the principles of soil health, but the crucial logistical considerations, labor needs, and site-specific constraints that pose common barriers to adoption of sustainable agriculture.

Nature United, the Canadian affiliate of the global conservation organization, The Nature Conservancy, has identified the Prairies as a focal point for its landscape-scale strategy. The organization is building and deploying programs in the Aspen Parkland ecoregion involving producers, government, and corporate partners, which will accelerate the adoption of nature positive management practices that deliver outcomes for people and the planet. “Transitioning conventional crop production to stewardship practices that prioritize soil health and ecosystem resilience involves a paradigm shift, which cannot be achieved without adequate technical assistance in place for farmers. The TAP program fills a critical gap: its mandate to train crop advisors in providing localized and scientifically based assistance will be invaluable for supporting farmers in the Canadian Prairies and accelerating the adoption of sustainable practices,” noted Les Fuller, Nature United’s Agriculture Strategy Director.

Elizabeth Reaves, Senior Program Director of Agriculture & Environment at Sustainable Food Lab, a global NGO that is a founding partner of the North Dakota Trusted Advisor Partnership and a backbone organization for Canadian Prairies TAP, spoke to the traction this new technical assistance paradigm has seen. “Crop advisors, farmers, and companies are excited by this model. Advisors are an integral part of the support system for farmers, and bring logistics-based decision support to soil health implementation. With more boots on the ground to help producers mitigate the risks of conservation and maximize its significant upside, we believe that farmers who have been on the fence will come on board. We’re already starting to see this play out in North Dakota TAP, and expect the same in Canada with a made-in-the-Prairies program.”

In the next five years, the Canadian Prairies TAP aims to train more than 225 agronomists in soil-centric land management, potentially bringing cutting-edge conservation agriculture to well over 500 farmers by 2029. “TAP will provide the resources to producers, but we also need a louder demand signal for regenerative commodities. Our program will amplify that buy-side signal by ensuring sustainable land management not only happens but sticks around for the long-term – giving companies assured access to consistent, higher quality supply season to season. TAP is an important part of the flywheel for the system,” added Reaves.