CREELMAN, Sask. – Les Johnston thinks governments haven’t done enough to help cattle producers since BSE was discovered in Canada in 2003.
But he gives them credit for funding available through the environmental pillar of Growing Forward and says producers should grab as much of it as they can while it’s available.
Johnston, a beef producer from southeastern Saskatchewan, said many farmers are making improvements that should qualify them for money. Others would like to get started but are deterred by the mountain of paperwork that comes with doing an environmental farm plan.
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That’s why he is enthusiastic about using Agri-Environmental Group Plans to access the money and get the work done.
Saskatchewan introduced the AEGP concept five years ago to complement individual farm plans under the former agricultural policy framework. It is continuing under Growing Forward, although Ottawa has handed administration over to provinces.
Bill Henley, a manager in the provincial agriculture ministry’s regional services branch, said producers can still complete individual EFPs. The workbook looks at four risk areas: air, water, soil and biodiversity.
After completing the workbook, the producer would apply to the Canada-Saskatchewan Farm Stewardship Plan to undertake a beneficial management practice that addresses a risk, he said.
The group plans work a little differently.
“The AEGPs work only on one issue,” he explained. “In our province we chose water.”
The idea is for producers to form committees around watersheds and work together to promote watershed awareness and the adoption of beneficial management practices.
Of the 29 major watersheds in Saskatchewan, 19 are agriculturally influenced.
There are now 17 AEGPs and more in the works. The Eastern Lower Qu’Appelle AEGP has just formed and planned to hold a field day Oct. 16.
After attending a seminar on the issue, Johnston liked the notion that producers would lead the initiative, approve the projects and work together. A cost-share of up to 50 percent didn’t hurt either.
By mid-March producers in the area were meeting to form the North Moose Mountain Creek AEGP Inc. It includes the rural municipalities of Tecumseh, Golden West and Fillmore, along with portions of Hazelwood, Kingsley, Montmartre, Chester, Francis and South Qu’Appelle.
“There are 1,200 eligible producers in our group area,” said Johnston, who chairs the group.
The area begins near the community of Odessa and runs to the flats near Kisbey, where the Lower Souris and Cornerstone groups take over. The entire watershed extends all the way to Lake Winnipeg.
The RMs provided seed money and the group also received money from organizations such as the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.
“That allowed us to start some projects before we were even an entity,” Johnston said.
Darren Ippolito raises cattle at the junction of the Moose Mountain and Lower Souris AEGPs and is working within both groups.
“I like that they’re a consolidated group that are looking to improve environmental health by being proactive instead of reactive,” he said.
“We need to have a solid balance between the producers and the environmentalists so that we are not involved in a tug of war.”
Ippolito’s family runs a registered Red Angus herd along with a backgrounding and finishing feedlot operation. The herd includes about 350 cow-calf pairs and the feedlot numbers depend on the year.
They also custom graze yearling stockers and have capacity for about 1,000 head.
He has taken advantage of AEGP funding to erect more fencing and improve rangeland quality.
“In a year like this, when we had significant drought, we found ourselves with more feed and grass that we ever had,” he said. “Right there it paid for itself.”
Most producers look to AEGP funding to improve wintering sites to better manage nutrients, said Kyle McRae, the technician hired by North Moose Mountain to help farmers evaluate their situations and write their applications.
The applications go to the AEGP committee and are forwarded to PCAB for final approval.
“We can’t just rubber-stamp them,” she said. “They have to benefit the watershed.”
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McRae said she has written about 25 applications since the group formed and expects more will want to undertake projects.
“They do want to do the right thing,” she said of producers. “It’s crucial to their way of life.”
This summer McRae and Johnston organized a tour of some work that has already been done within the AEGP.
For example, Barry Good and Elaine Moats have set up remote winter and summer watering systems, rotational grazing and electric fencing.
The winter watering site uses old tires from large mining vehicles to help insulate the water line and keep it frost-free through air circulation.
Johnston and Randy Foss have fenced off Gooseberry Lake, which used to be a popular resort area, cross fenced the pasture into three paddocks and set up solar watering systems to keep cattle out of the lake.
All involved agree that locals know their areas best and can identify what the priorities should be.
“These are real producers that eat, breathe and sleep the same thing you do,” said Ippolito.
