The Rural Voice, 2006-07, Page 111 ony•rerm TMrnk,ru
for Today's rsw,••.
Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario
Farmers already
protect the environment
- let's do more
7660 Mill Rd., RR 4 Guelph, ON N1H 611
Voice: (519) 837-1620 Fax: (519) 824-1835
Email: cffomail@christianfarmers.org
Web: www.christianfarmers.org
The Christian Farmers Federation of
Ontario is calling for federal and provincial
start-up funding for a program aimed at
helping farmers develop alternative
environmental uses for their farmland.
"Farmers love the land and have
always worked hard at protecting its
environmental benefits," says John Kikkert,
the CFFO's president. "But it's time for the
government to start working alongside
farmers in a more proactive fashion so that
society can have even greater benefits
from these privately -held lands."
The CFFO believes that the best
way for farmers and government to
achieve greater environmental benefits
from farmland is to adopt a model known
as Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS).
The model is based on farmers voluntarily
creating a stewardship plan that is
designed to both conserve environmen-
tally sensitive areas'and to deliver
increased capacity for cleaner water and
air, wildlife habitat and an attractive rural
environment. A monetary value is
established for the delivery of specific
environmental goods and services that
provide public benefits to society from
private land.
While the CFFO believes that
start-up funds for ALUS should come from
the federal and provincial governments,
under the environmental pillar of the
Agricultural Policy Framework, the
organization believes that medium-term
funding needs to be shared between
federal, provincial and municipal levels of
government.
For a detailed copy of the CFFO position
statement on ALUS,
please visit the CFFO's website at
www.christianfarmers.org
You'll find it under a link to
JULY 2006 7