HomeMy WebLinkAboutFarming '88, 1988-03-30, Page 48PAGE 24. FARMING ’88, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1988.
Land Stewardship
New OMAF programs promotes
new care in taking care
of precious resource: land
As might be expected from a
county that has been in the
forefront of soil conservation pro
grams for years, Huron county has
had a heavy response to the Land
Stewardship Program of the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture
and Food.
“We’ve had a steady flow of
about six applicants a day for the
last month and a half,” John
Hazlitt, fieldman for the project in
Huron county said recently.
When Jack Riddell Ontario’s
Agriculture Minister announced
the Land Stewardship Program
last year he brought in a plan with a
difference. Since land stewardship
needs to be tailored to the
particular needs of each area he
looked for a way to localize the
program. ‘‘We needed to provide
an unparalleled amount of flexibili
ty in the application of the program
and we also felt it was essential to
allow decision-making to take
place at the local level,” he told a
recent meeting in Blyth. ‘‘That’s
because soil conservation and land
stewardship involves much more
than finances. You have to have the
right philosophical approach. You
have to be convinced that the steps
you are taking will help in the
long-term.”
The solution for Mr. Riddell was
to sign an agreement with the
Ontario Soil and Crop Improve
ment Association to oversee and
implement the program.
In Huron County it meant
getting a very committed and
dedicated group to form a commit
tee to supervise the program. Led
by people like Laurence Taylor of
Hullett, Don Lobb of Goderich
South of Clinton Muffler Supply 482-3752
A PROVEN PERFORMER
‘GRASS SEEDS ‘SEED CORN ‘LAWN SEED
Call your Pickseed representative today --
Featuring •AMBASSADORALFALFA
•PICKSEED 2700 CORN
•TOUCHDOWN KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS
township and the Hogan brothers
of Ashfield, Huron has been a
leader in conservation practices.
Mr. Hazlitt who was hired as the
fieldman for the project, was the
first winner of the Norman Alexan
der Award for conservation work,
an award named after the Londes-
boro conservationist who carried
on a one-man crusade for many
years to draw the attention of
farmers and government to the
damage being done by wind and
water erosion.
Huron, with $2.6 million allocat
ed under the $40 million program,
ranks with Kent as getting the
biggest piece of the pie. The
amounts are because of the
number of acres in row crops, the
most unstable kind of landuse.
The program provides grants to
encourage crop rotation to get
away from planting the same row
crops year after year to encourage
changing cultivation practices so
crop residue is left on top of the soil
to prevent erosion, to promote
planting of trees and installing
erosion control structures and even
to provide training in how to
prevent erosion.
* * If all the stuff is done there will
be one hell of a change in the
amount of erosion by 1990 (when
the program ends),” Mr. Hazlitt
said.
Huron is taking a slow approach
to the program, Mr. Hazlitt said,
because the local committee
doesn’t want to damage the
program by making a bad decision.
‘‘We’ll make some mistakes but
hopefully it will all work out,” he
said. He praises the dedication of
the local committee members who
Neil Gowing
Brussels 887-6292
Farm Tires
The fastest growing farm tire in America
Yields 20% to 40% more tread tile
Increases fuel efficiency and draw bar horsepower
23% deeper lugs root deeply to produce more traction
High flotation design causes less soil compaction,
while offering a comfortable ride
The pre-stablized belt construction and Halter
tread contour make Taurus the true hybrid in farm tires.
are so adamant that they want as
much of the county’s allocation to
go into actual projects that they
donate the use of their own
equipment rather than having to
buy new equipmentfor such things
as measuring out the area of land in
question.
Those same interests cause the
Huron committee to adopt some
different rules for the program in
Huron than in other counties. For
one thing, the Huron committee
decided against having a deadline
for applications as some counties
have. The program was promoted
from the beginning as a first come,
first-served program, Mr. Taylor
says. Some other county commit
tees wanted to make their jobs
easier so set a deadline and ended
up with 600-900 applications and
then had problems treating every
one equally in giving out the
grants.
“We didn’t want to get a big
rush of incomplete applications at
the deadline,” Mr. Hazlitt added.
They also didn’t want to stop
applicationscominginafter the
funds ran out because an ongoing
flow of applications will illustrate a
need to continue the program and
perhaps persuade the Ontario
government to extend the funding.
There’s no question Huron is
getting toward the limit of its
funding, Mr. Hazlitt says of the
heavy number of applications
received so far, but the committee
is still encouarging applications
because some project may not be
undertaken after all and then the
next application in line will be
eligible for the freed-up money.
Huron has taken a low-key
approach in promoting the pro
gram. The committee spoke with
the soil and crop association and
with crop consultants. Three infor
mation meetings were held around
the county with more than 200
people attending. A series of
workshops was held to help
farmers fill out their applications.
Mr. Hazlitt said he is pleased
with the quality of the applications
received. Mr. Hazlitt and Brent
Kennedy of OMAF go over the
applications and fine tune them
and the farmer is called in if he
needs help with the application.
The applications then go to the
committee which may still need
more information and may work
with the farmer some more.
Once the grant is approved and
work starts in the field it will be Mr.
Hazlitt who oversees to see that it is
being done according to the
application.
The most used portion of the
program in Huron County is the
Continued on page 25