Clinton News Record, 2015-07-01, Page 13Wednesday, July 1, 2015 • News Record 13
Huron County landowners answer Remembering those who have passed on
the call by planting cover crops
Only a few months after the
Huron County Clean Water Pro-
ject announced the new cover
crop incentive category, in the
Spring of 2015, Huron County
landowners already had stepped
forward to decide to plant more
than 1,244 acres of cover crops.
On June 18, the project review
committee approved $12,440 in
cover crop grants at the commit-
tee's first meeting since the cat-
egorywas announced.
The new cover crop incentive
category helps agricultural pro-
ducers try new cover -crop mixes
that protect and improve soil, pro-
mote nitrogen fixation, and protect
water quality. Cover crops such as
rye, oats, radish, or millet cover the
soil during the non -growing sea-
son. The county project provides
$10 per acre as an incentive. Plant-
ings must include at least two spe-
cies and residue must remain on
the surface until the spring.
Cover crops can help to reduce
soil erosion that occurs when there
are no crops actively growing on
the fields. Cover crops help to keep
soil in the fields to grow crops and
help to keep sediment out of
creeks, rivers, and the lake. Other
benefits of cover crops include
maintaining and building soil
organic matter, improving soil
structure, and increasing infiltra-
tionwhich reduces surface runoff.
Chris Van Esbroeck is a soil
and water conservation special-
ist with Maitland Valley Conser-
vation Authority (MVCA). He is
also a volunteer with the Huron
Soil and Crop Improvement
Association (HSCIA) and he
farms near Hensall.
Directors from the HSCIA were
among those who provided input
into the development of the new
cover crops category. Van
Esbroeck said he is very pleased
with the support of landowners in
the county at the start of this cover
Contributed photo
Chris Van Esbroeck is a soil and water conservation specialist with Maitland
Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA). He is shown at the Huron County
demonstration farm managed by HSCIA. Van Esbroeck is shown with a soy
bean crop at the demonstration farm. The photo also shows Cereal Rye and
Dwarf Essex Rape residue remaining from the previous cover crop planting.
crop incentive category.
"The incentive certainly doesn't
cover the whole cost of planting
but it does help to make it easier
for farmers to try something new,"
said Van Esbroeck. "It's great to
see this many producers take part
in the first few months and I invite
even more to apply."
Some agricultural producers are
trying out cover crops for the first
time. The first applications through
the new category ranged from
20 -acre plantings to 200 acres.
Some were traditional cover -crop
mixes such as oats and peas but
other projects had a diversity of
more than five species. People may
watch a video about local planting
of soybeans into a live cover crop, at
the Huronview site near Clinton, on
youtube.com at this link: https://
youtu.be/alPg-H-OndO
The other new funding category
added to the county program in
2015 was the composting toilets cat-
egory. This categorywas added this
year to help reduce the amount of
waste from on-site septic systems on
properties with a small volume of
effluent and not enough room for a
conventional septic system.
Expenses eligible for funding
include the toilet and associated
project costs including the septic
tank pump -out and inspection.
In addition to cover crops and
composting toilets, the Huron
County Clean Water Project pro-
vides up to 50 per cent grant sup-
port for projects in categories that
include; manure storage decom-
missioning; clean water diversion;
wetland creation and rural storm
water management; fragile land
retirement; livestock fencing; well
decommissioning; wellhead pro-
tection; forest management plans
and woodlot enhancement; stew-
ardship guide implementation; and
special projects. Funding from the
County of Huron can be combined
with other cost -share programs
and landowner contributions.
The Huron Clean Water Pro-
ject is funded by the County of
Huron. Service delivery is pro-
vided by the Maitland Valley
and Ausable Bayfield conserva-
tion authorities. Landowners
may call by phone to apply.
Phone Maitland Conservation at
519-335-3557 or Ausable Bayfield
Conservation at 519-235-2610 or
toll-free 1-888-286-2610. The next
review committee meeting is Sep-
tember 11 and residents can apply
anytime over the summer. For
more information visit mvca.on.ca,
abca.on.ca, or huroncounty.ca.
Unlikely that tornado touched down in Goderich
Dave Flaherty
Postmedia Network
Environment Canada says
there was no physical proof of a
tornado touching down near
Goderich on June 22.
A system of severe storms bom-
barded the entire county and
most parts of southern Ontario
resulting in a tornado warning to
be declared at around 10:15 p.m.
However, meteorologist Geoff
Coulson said based on what inves-
tigators found, evidence didn't
point towards a tornado but
instead a burst of damaging winds.
"There is no real organized
track of damage," Coulson said.
According to Coulson, in the
case of a tornado, the trail of dam-
age tends to be fairly narrow and
will be a few kilometres in length.
Const. Jamie Stanley of Huron
County OPP said they received
no calls regarding damage from
Monday's storm, while Central
Huron Mayor Jim Ginn said the
municipality's emergency ser-
vices and fire department
received no calls as well.
Facebook and Twitter were
abuzz with suggestions of a tor-
nado on Monday evening.
Storm chaser Dave Patrick
posted a photo on the Ontario
Tornado Watch Facebook page.
Coulson said while the image
appears to contain a funnel -
shaped object, they did not see
any evidence it had made contact
with the ground, which is needed
to constitute an actual tornado.
Environment Canada is still
gathering information on the
storms as of late last week.
Anyone who may have suf-
fered damage to their homes or
other property are asked to sent
photos or information to storm.
ontario@ec.gc.ca.
Dave Flaherty Postmedia Network
A memorial service honouring those who have passed during the last year was
held at Bayfield Cemetery on Sunday. Rev. Colin Snyder of Brucefield Community
United Church presided over the service. There were 24 names on the honour roll
for this year.
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