Better Farming - December 2016

Better Farming

December 2016

The Business of

Ontario Agriculture

ALUS

&R Orchards, just west of

Tillsonburg in Elgin

County, possesses all the

hallmarks of a differentiated farm.

The Michels who operate the farm’s

100 acres sell apples from their

orchard; they sell apple cider and

vinegar, fruit baskets, gelato, honey

and even honey fennel cough syrup

from their roadside store.

But the farm varies in another way:

the Michels are involved in a contract

with ALUS Canada (Alternative Land

Use Systems) which provides them

extra income.

ALUS is a growing not-for-profit

organization that rents farmland from

farmers. The land is then retired and

dedicated to environmental protec-

tion and conservation. On the

Michels’ farm, the ALUS projects

include the instalment of a hedgerow

along the farm’s roadway, two pollina-

tor strips for bees and the redevelop-

ment of a historic wetland. The

projects occupy 7.5 acres, are inte-

grated into the farm’s operation and

are positioned on marginal land.

ALUS has been steadily growing

over the past 10 years as farmers like

the Michels see the benefits of the

extra funds that come from the ALUS

relationship and become more

conscious of the need for conserva-

tion.

Large producers have also taken

advantage of ALUS deals. In Norfolk

County, a 10,000-acre cash crop farm

hosts ALUS projects. Farms small and

large, then, have made agreements

with ALUS, allowing the organization

to expand.

ALUS gets the funding for such

projects from several different

sources. Some grants come from

government agencies such as the

Trillium Foundation. But ALUS’s

major sponsor has been the W.

Garfield Weston Foundation, a

charitable organization that “supports

innovative approaches that preserve

and restore natural spaces,” according

to its website.

The grants have made ALUS into a

substantive organization. ALUS

works with 722 farmers and ranchers

nationwide in 19 ALUS chapters.

ALUS projects can be found in

Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, P.E.I.,

Quebec and Saskatchewan.

ALUS is now set to develop further

– into new communities and through

new fundraising mechanisms.

Background: The ALUS-farmer

relationship

The relationship between farmers and

ALUS is straightforward. Farmers

make a five-year contractual agree-

ment with ALUS to retire marginal

agricultural land. In turn, the farmers

are paid an income for the land itself

and for their efforts to maintain the

projects.

The labour required for upkeep of

the projects is minimal, says Alyssa

Cousineau, program coordinator,

ALUS Elgin County. For example,

upkeep is often as easy “as mowing it

once a year.” The payments from

ALUS to the producer consider the

labour required to maintain the

project as well as the land itself.

Before all that can happen, ALUS

has to place a partnership advisory

committee (PAC) in a specific

community. Dave Reid, ALUS hub

manager, Eastern Canada, notes that

every ALUS community has a PAC.

It’s central to the organization’s work

in local communities.

An ALUS PAC comprises both

producers and local leaders, says

Reid, as well as “agency folk” such as

OMAFRA and conservation authori-

ties. In some ALUS communities, the

latter groups have voting rights and

in others they don’t.

Often, a PAC is developed follow-

Go ask ALUS

ALUS Canada has been growing quickly over the past 10 years, and it is now on the verge of further

expansion.

Better Farming

takes a look at the organization at this critical juncture.

by NICHOLAS VAN ALLEN

The Michel family of M&R Orchards has been working with ALUS

on several projects. ALUS has established at M&R a hedgerow along

the farm’s roadside, a redeveloped historic wetland and two

pollinator strips.