Harold Rudy, one of the developers of the Environmental Farm Plan, is writing a book on soil and crop improvement
When Harold Rudy joined the soil conservation movement, he says he got the job not because of his University of Guelph degrees in agriculture economics and business, or his background growing up on his family’s farm, but because of his burgeoning computer skills.
Being hired as part of a group of 20 soil conservation advisers in the 1980s, however, set the course of Rudy’s career, for which he was honoured at a recent ceremony that inducted him into the Canadian Conservation Hall of Fame in Guelph, Ont.
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Farmers, industry and academics involved in conservation and soil health were in Guelph for the Soil Conservation Council of Canada’s Summit on Canadian Soil Health.
Rudy may have started his career because he could understand DOS operating systems and data entry, but he moved from the Ontario agriculture ministry to manage the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association in 1987 as it morphed into the agriculture services and funding provider it is today.
OSCIA provides farmer funding for several government programs, especially major federal-provincial programs like Growing Forward 2, which is soon wrapping up before the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership comes into effect.
OSCIA and Rudy were originators of the Environmental Farm Plan, a long-time Ontario program that has been adopted across the country. It provided incentives, but also brought farmers on board to invest in and adopt soil-friendly practices on their farms.
Rudy has turned the management of OSCIA over to Andrew Graham, but continues to be involved in the organization.
In his remarks at the induction ceremony, Rudy lauded the 11 regional co-ordinators of OSCIA, who work with farmers and provincial extension staff to deliver information and programs.
“We must fiercely protect and support our unique grassroots system,” he says.
Rudy lives on his family’s farm near New Hamburg, Ont., and is working on a book, called The Soil Fixers, which documents contributions to Ontario agriculture by members of the OSCIA.
