...And the challenge which drove Balzac, Alberta farmer Phil Norregaard to target them
In retrospect, Phil Norregaard's experience was the same as that of many producers. The Balzac, Alberta mixed farmer took a great deal of pride in his farm management skills and expected the Environmental Farm Plan process would validate them. However, he quickly found himself looking at his farm through a brand new set of eyes.
"I went into my first EFP workshop thinking I was already doing most things right, but instead I found out that I had a lot of room for improvement," says Norregaard. "At first I took it personally, but I decided instead to take it as a challenge and use my EFP to make my farm better from both an environmental and economical perspective."
To accept that challenge, he completed his EFP, a personalized analysis customized to his farm, which led him to apply for funding and access technical support for eight projects through the Canada-Alberta Farm Stewardship Program (CAFSP). That program provides up to $50,000 in cost-shared financial support for on-farm environmental improvements to producers who have developed an EFP.
Although many of the projects are related, each one has merit on its own. Here are the specific projects — some big, some small — he's undertaking:
1. Improved Cropping Systems. Norregaard applied under this CAFSP category for materials to build a chaff collector, a machine which collects the chaff from a combine and distributes it in piles throughout the field for grazing.
For Norregaard, the primary benefit of the collector is economic. "Chaff is not the kind of feed I'd want to give the cows just before calving, but it can certainly cut down feed costs up to that point."
2. Wintering Site Management. The cross-fencing Norregaard bought with the help of CAFSP funding, combined with his new chaff collector, will help him develop his winter grazing program.
"This will extend the time the cows can graze on pasture," he says. "It won't be an all-winter thing — probably just up until a couple of weeks before calving season, when we'll move them back closer to home so we can keep an eye on them."
3. Erosion Control Structures for Non-Riparian Areas. For this category, Norregaard planted grass in runoff water courses to help prevent soil erosion. "The grass prevents water from carving a trench in the soil — it's pretty straightforward," he says.
4. Farmyard Runoff. Norregaard received approval for developing berms and waterways to divert runoff water from his yard and corrals. However, this is one project he may put off until he builds new corrals. "There's no point in doing it beforehand," he says.
5. Species at Risk. Under this category, Norregaard installed five self-designed nesting platforms for ferruginous hawks. Besides the general benefit to hawk populations, Norregaard gets free gopher control as the hawks help cut down the gopher population on his farm, saving him money on the equipment damage gopher holes are famous for creating. It also means less chemicals needed for population control.
"It's obviously not a 100 percent solution, but every little bit helps. However many gophers the hawks eat is that much less that I have to deal with."
6. Enhancing Wildlife Habitat and 7. Biodiversity/ Shelterbelt Establishment. This as-yet-incomplete project will see Norregaard plant natural shelterbelts and fence them off to prevent cattle from coming in and trampling grass and smaller wildlife.
The intention, from an environmental perspective, is to promote biodiversity by providing a habitat for birds and other wildlife. The primary benefit to Norregaard is that the shelterbelts will act as natural windbreaks to protect his pastured cattle from the weather and, at the same time, minimize soil erosion.
"As for the fencing, we get a lot of ducks nesting here and we often see their nests getting trampled by the cattle. By putting up these fences we can exclude the cattle from those areas during the times of year when the ducks are nesting. That's not to say we won't ever graze in those areas at other times of the year - it just gives us another option."
8. Water Well Management. Finally, Norregaard plans to upgrade two water well pits to ground level. Underground well pits are vulnerable to contamination because they allow water from high water tables, surface flooding, and broken water lines to enter the well - water that can be a source of chemicals, fertilizers, animal wastes, bacteria and other harmful contaminants.
While eight projects may sound like a lot, there are actually 26 categories producers can apply for through CAFSP. The simple way for producers to identify what best fits their needs is to get information directly.
Further information on the EFP program, including workshop times and locations, is available at the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company (AEFP) Web site at www.AlbertaEFP.com. For more information on the CAFSP application process, contact the program office toll-free at 1-800-667-8567.
This article is reprintable with credit to AEFP as follows "Reprinted courtesy of the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company; www.albertaEFP.com".
