Environmental farm plan money should be used for containing barnyard runoff, sealing abandoned water wells or grassing erosion-prone waterways rather than buying GPS toys, says an agriculture fieldman involved in the program.
“It’s the most applied-for program under here, but it’s the least environmentally friendly project,” says Dave Trautman, an assistant agriculture fieldman with Camrose County.
“There’s more reasons to take an EFP than to put toys in your tractor.”
Under the Canada-Alberta environmental farm plan program, farms are eligible to receive up to $50,000 to help adopt environmental stewardship practices.
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The government program will pay up to 50 percent of the cost to relocate corrals, shelters or old farmyard sites, to a maximum of $30,000. It will also pay 50 percent of the cost for improving livestock wintering sites, including portable windbreaks or shelters.
The program also helps offset the cost to buy yield monitors, computer mapping software or GPS controlled variable rate technology.
Mike Slomp, executive director of the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Co., said of the 1,500 projects approved in Alberta, 750 were for improved cropping systems including GPS, chaff spreaders and openers.
“That seems to be what attracts people the most. It’s the easiest to do,” Slomp said.
Using GPS to reduce fertilizer or chemical overlap has benefits, but Trautman believes the money would be better spent on other projects.
After a farmer has received his environmental farm plan certificate, he can apply for hundreds of cost-shared projects that the farm plan process identifies as areas of environmental concern.
Farmers could get help seeding water runs that erode every spring or after a big rain. Money is available for planting shelter belts and fencing the shelterbelts from livestock.
One of the best uses for the money is to seal abandoned water wells or upgrade well pits to ground level so manure and chemicals don’t contaminate ground water, Trautman said during the Canadian Bull Congress.
“It’s pretty tough to complain about oil companies when you have one of these in your yard,” said Trautman, pointing to a picture of a water well surrounded by a sea of manure leaking into the well.
The money could be used to upgrade fuel tanks to double walled tanks that pump out the top.
“They’re not cheap, but there’s 30 percent of the cost available through the program. Take advantage of this money while it’s out there.”
Protecting waterways, sloughs and riparian areas from manure runoff is another important use for the money, and the program will pay up to half the cost of diverting runoff away from waterways, he said.
“I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying it’s cheap, but you can get funding,” Trautman said.
There’s also money available for fence posts, labour and power to begin a swath grazing project and for buying equipment to switch from an air seeder to an air drill.
