Environmental Programs

ALUS Canada

ALUS Canada is a national not-for-profit organization that supports the delivery of the ALUS program across the country.

Ecosystem Services

Active in six provinces to date, the ALUS program works with farmers and ranchers to produce valuable ecological services on Canadian farmland.

These ecological services include clean air, clean water, flood mitigation, climate adaptation, carbon sequestration, species at risk habitat and support for our native bees and pollinators.

Projects

Specifically, ALUS helps farmers and ranchers restore wetlands, reforest, plant windbreaks, install riparian buffers, manage sustainable drainage systems, create pollinator habitat and establish other ecologically beneficial projects on their properties.

ALUS provides annual payments to its participants to ensure the ongoing stewardship of each of their ALUS projects.

Partners

For over a decade now, ALUS Canada has been building excellent relationships within agricultural communities while perfecting its unique mechanism for delivering conservation outcomes from Canada’s rural acres.

Thanks to the generous commitment of The W. Garfield Weston Foundation and other dedicated supporters, ALUS Canada is rapidly expanding into many new communities across the country.

Results

In this way, ALUS turns marginal farmland into productive ecosystems, linking Canada’s natural heritage across agricultural lands.

For more information on the ALUS program, please contact your local program coordinator, or the team at ALUS Canada

MISSION STATEMENT

ALUS Canada’s mission is to enable Canadians to provide direct support to a national network of farmers and ranchers delivering ecosystem services in their communities, including cleaner air, cleaner water, carbon sequestration, erosion control, flood mitigation, pollinator support and wildlife habitat.

VISION STATEMENT

Community-developed and farmer-delivered, ALUS sustains agriculture, wildlife and natural spaces for all Canadians, one acre at a time.

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES

The ALUS Canada program rests firmly on eight core principles:

1. ALUS is farmer-delivered: As the largest single group of landowners in Canada, agricultural producers are in a unique position to provide important solutions to some of the most pressing conservation challenges of our time, including climate change and biodiversity loss.
2. ALUS is community-developed: The ALUS program is flexible, designed to be customized by local communities to respect local agricultural and environmental priorities. From Red Deer, Alberta, to Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, each ALUS program is managed by a local ALUS Coordinator and a Partnership Advisory Committee (PAC), which is made up of agricultural producers and such local stakeholders as municipalities, conservation groups, farm associations and government agencies. In every ALUS community, it is the local PAC that determines how the local ALUS program will be run—within the tried, tested and true framework of ALUS Canada’s principles, guidelines and materials.
3. ALUS is integrated: The delivery of the ALUS program is intended to complement existing conservation programs, including federal and provincial government policy frameworks. ALUS programs across the country have developed many community partnerships with conservation organizations, agricultural groups and different levels of government.
4. ALUS is targeted: The program focuses on marginal and ecologically sensitive parcels of land that can be managed in a different manner to produce ecosystem services that benefit all Canadians.
5. ALUS is accountable: ALUS projects are independently monitored, verified and audited.
6. ALUS is science-based: Based on sound scientific principles and verification guidelines, ALUS provides valuable support and technical expertise for the design and implementation of each green infrastructure project.
7. ALUS is voluntary: Farmers and ranchers who choose to participate in the ALUS program have flexible agreements that suit their particular operation.
8. ALUS is market-driven: The ecosystem services produced by ALUS projects have economic value on the marketplace, one that ALUS Canada is actively developing. Through ALUS Canada, citizens, corporations and philanthropists can invest directly in Canadian environmental stewardship, one acre at a time.

For more information, please contact your local ALUS program coordinator, or the team at ALUS Canada.

https://alus.ca/alus_community/alus-two-hills/

Alberta Environmental Farm Plan 

The Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) is a voluntary, whole farm, self-assessment tool that helps producers identify their environmental risks and develop plans to mitigate identified risks. Over 9,000 Alberta producers have demonstrated their commitment to environmental stewardship by completing an EFP.

An EFP helps you to identify what you are already doing well, and pinpoint areas needing improvement. It is a great tool for identifying and planning projects to improve environmental stewardship on-farm. Depending on your farm, you can typically complete an EFP in 1-2 days, and once your EFP is approved you become eligible for funding under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change programs.

Late fall and through the winter is a great time to work on your EFP and start planning projects (but EFPs can be done at anytime). For more information on the EFP program, or for assistance with beginning, finishing or renewing your EFP please contact our Municipal Conservation Coordinator.

Note: Effective April 1, 2018, producers who have an EFP older than 10 years will have to renew their EFP to be eligible for funding under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership Program (CAP). Producers who have not completed an EFP or who completed one prior to 2008 should renew now to ensure eligibility.

Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) 

The Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year, $3 billion federal-provincial-territorial investment in the agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector that began in April 2018, and is the successor of the 2013-18 Growing Forward 2 partnership. In Alberta, the Canadian Agricultural Partnership represents a federal-provincial investment of $406 million in strategic programs and initiatives for the agricultural sector. 15 programs will be rolled out in total, with all programs set to be open by the end of 2018.

In Alberta, the Canadian Agricultural Partnership will deliver programs developed in consultation with stakeholders, and is organized under five themes: Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change; Products, Market Growth and Diversification; Science and Research; Risk Management; and Public Trust.

To stay up to date on all the programs make sure to “Sign up for updates” on the CAP website (www.cap.alberta.ca). For more information or assistance with applications please contact our Municipal Conservation Coordinator.

Farm Energy and Agri-Processing Program (FEAP) 

The Farm Energy and Agri-Processing Program shares costs with the agriculture and agri-processsing sector on energy efficiency investments. The program is designed to encourage energy management which will result in cost savings, energy conservation, and ultimately, reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The program offers finanical support to applicants who incorporate high efficiency equipment that is identified in the applicable funding list in their construction and/or retrofitting projects.

Examples of items eligible under this program include:

• Energy audits and assessments
• Electricity, natural gas, and liquid submeters
• New construction insulation
• Lighting (LED lighting for greenhouses, luminaires, etc.)
• Heating (boilers, furnaces, etc.)
• Ventilation
• Energy-free and low energy livestock waters, etc.

The full funding lists can be accessed below:

• Producer Funding List
• Processor Funding List

Visit www.agriculture.alberta.ca/feap for more information.

On-Farm Solar Photovoltaics Program 

The On-Farm Solar Photovoltaics Program provides funding towards solar photovoltaics on Alberta farms. This enables producers to conserve non-renewable fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions, ultimately reducing the environmental footprint of Alberta’s agriculture industry.

To be eligible for funding, a Photovoltaic system must be:

• Grid-tied, not off-grid
• Approved under Alberta’s Micro-Generation Legislation
• Positioned to optimize sunshine and minimize shading
• Have manufacturer-warranties on: Solar modules, Racking, Inverters and/or Mirco-inverters
• Installed on a Site ID that has a Distribution Rate Class of Farm, Irrigation, Grain Drying or equivalent

Funding is retroactively available for projects that have been completed AFTER APRIL 15, 2017.

Visit www.agriculture.alberta.ca/solar for more information.

Shelterbelts

Listed below are private suppliers of shelterbelt trees. This list is provided for information only; the County does not work directly with any of these suppliers.

• Prairie Shelterbelt Program  (Sundre, AB)
• HELP International  (Weyburn, SK)
• Tree Time  (Edmonton, AB)
• Prairie Tech Propagation  (Bonnyville, AB)
• Boreal Horticultural Services  (Bonnyville, AB)