(featuring Bryan Gilvesy, Co-Chair of Sustain Ontario)

Bryan Gilvesy’s Courtland farm has become home to some squatters.

No worries, though. Gilvesy, a cattle farmer in western Norfolk County, has come to expect their arrival each spring. In fact, he looks forward to it.

The guests taking up residence on his farm are blue birds and until about three years ago, Gilvesy had never seen hide nor feather of them. Now he makes sure they’re comfortable during their stay. Gilvesy recently installed 42 blue bird boxes on his pastoral property for them to roost.

“I never saw a blue bird in my life. Now I notice that they’re here,” Gilvesy said.

Gilvesy has his own land stewardship practices to thank — practices that have been further encouraged and rewarded by a pilot program in Norfolk called Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS).

ALUS is a farmer-driven initiative that sees marginal cropland taken out of service and reclaimed by nature. In return, farmers are paid a fair price for the good work they’re doing for the planet.

In the wonderland of ALUS, that converted marginal cropland is seen as “natural capital.” Agriculture and the earth work in unison, instead of the pressures to make farming profitable putting the two at loggerheads.

“It’s allowed us to reconnect with the reasons why we’re farming,” said Gilvesy, who chairs the Norfolk ALUS Pilot Project. “It’s farming in synch with nature. That’s something lost in modern agriculture because you turn to standard production methods, or buy more fertilizer this or more fertilizer that.”

ALUS was a concept first discussed by the Norfolk Federation of Agriculture in 2001. Farmers were keen on the concept but finding the funding to make it a reality set off years of work and — finally — contributions from a dozen wildlife and provincial organizations, including the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Local farmers raised $1.25 million to get the Norfolk ALUS pilot project officially started in 2008.

Gilvesy joined the effort in 2005 after trying to find funding to build a stream crossing on his farm that would protect the waterway from his longhorn cattle.

“I thought surely there must be money for this because we know there’s money for mitigation,” Gilvesy said.

Much to Gilvesy’s chagrin, there was little green to go green on the farm. He said he was told to let  his cattle run amok and do some damage to the stream, then he could get some cash for his project. His findings angered him, he said.

To continue reading this article from Eating Niagara click here.

Images of salamanders, Oak Savannah, native grasses, restored wetlands, Texas Longhorn Cattle and working farms provided beautiful visuals of how the farm community is building upon its deep-rooted stewardship ethic.

$3,487. That is the estimated value PER HECTARE per year of ecological services provided by Ontario’s natural capital: wildlife habitat, water filtration zones, carbon sinks, woodlands, grasslands and wetlands. Much of this natural capital is found on Ontario farms. ALUS represents a way to engage farmers and provide incentive payments for the valuable ecological goods and services they provide.

A landmark report, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development stresses the importance of ALUS-type programs for the future sustainability of farming systems and the environment – multifunctionality. “The concept of multifunctionality recognizes agriculture as a multi-output activity, producing not only commodities (food, feed, fibres, biofuels, medicinal products and ornamentals), but also non-commodity outputs such as environmental services, landscape amenities and cultural heritage.”

Find out more about the Ontario ALUS Alliance by contacting Kristen Thompson, ALUS Project Coordinator: kristen.thompson@norfolkcounty.ca