Conservation programs target energy use, water runoff

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

Greenbelt-area farmers wanting to upgrade their energy efficiency and Lake Simcoe watershed area growers who do projects to prevent runoff or contaminants from entering the lake or its tributaries can tap into two separate cost-shared programs.

The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation is providing the grants for the one-year Farming Power program, while the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food is funding the Water’s Edge Transformation (WET) program. The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association is delivering both programs, which have recently been launched.

Christine Schmalz, senior environmental programs coordinator for the association, says projects eligible for funding in Farming Power include ones using best management practices to enhance the farm’s energy efficiency. The association has a brochure on its website under the Farming Power tab outlining the eligible best management practices. Application forms are also available on the site.

The projects that can get funding include lighting upgrades, refrigeration and cooling additions, and heating transitions to higher efficiency units. Schmalz says the projects are just for the farm’s business and not residences.

Only farmers in the Greenbelt can apply. Farmers in any sector of agriculture are eligible for the program.

In their application, farmers must specify how much energy they’re going to save as part of the changes they’re making, and they need to work with an energy professional to identify the technical specifications of the project. Farmers with higher energy savings are eligible to get more of their project’s costs covered by the program.

The program works well “if you’re making a big change on your farm and that’s really what the focus of the program is – to fund more highly the individuals who are able to make the most significant change,” she explains.

The amount of funding available to farmers is 30 per cent of their total project costs, 40 per cent or 50 per cent to a maximum of $5,000 for each best management practice. Each farm business with a farm business registration number and an Environment Farm Plan can access up to $10,000 in total.

So far, the association has received a handful of applications and some have already been approved, she says.

In total, there’s $115,000 available for the Farming Power program.

Schmalz didn’t know how much total funding was available for the WET program. It’s similar in size to the Greenbelt Foundation program, she says. The best management practices for the WET program are also available on the association’s website.

Schmalz says the management practices are based on preventing runoff or contaminants from going into “the freshwater resources” and reducing vulnerabilities upstream.

Like the Farming Power program, WET requires applicants to have an Environmental Farm Plan and a farm business registration number. But that’s where the similarity ends between the two programs. WET applicants outline what level of cost sharing they’d like to receive, and the program is available this year and next year.

Les Nichols, the association’s Georgian Central director, says the program’s duration will provide farmers with a two-year time span to tackle major projects. Most programs are just one year and that makes it hard for farmers trying to get them approved and completed within the calendar year, he says.

WET is a good program and the farming community “is concerned and willing to do whatever it can to minimize nutrient or pathogen movement to water,” says Nichols, who represents Bruce, Grey, Dufferin and North and South Simcoe.

Farmers know they have specific problems, such as cattle in the creek or runoff, and this program gives “them some help funding wise and an incentive to do some of those projects that they know they should do or would like to do anyway,” he says.

Sample projects include preventing freshwater form entering barnyards, treating contaminated runoff, establishing riparian buffers and erosion control.

Nichols says it’s a requirement of the program to have a conservation authority official fill out a section of the application verifying the project will help correct the problem.

The association will use an environmental benefits index that it developed to assess proposed projects’ environmental benefit. The share of funding is based on the environmental benefit rating – higher ratings, for example, would generate a greater funding share from the program.

Farmers could get funding of up to 100 per cent of their project’s cost if they requested it and “their environmental benefit is that significant,” Schmalz says.

The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority is providing on-farm technical support for the WET program. Staff will come out to the farm, assess the situation and give advice on what best management practice could be used. Schmalz says there isn’t a cost for the assessment and farmers can contact the association, which will put them in touch with the conservation authority. BF