Canadian governments are lagging behind other countries when it comes to funding programs that recognize multiple land use.
Kerry Holderness, vice-president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said federal and provincial governments haven’t learned the value of programs such as Alternative Land Use Services, which see agricultural and environmental groups working together to use land for both their purposes.
He said the last U.S. farm bill set aside $7 billion for agri-environmental spending and another $35 million for special programs.
“And we can’t even get the funding for a pilot project in Saskatchewan,” he said, referring to an ALUS project scheduled for the Rural Municipality of Lakeside near Quill Lake.
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The project was estimated to cost $1.9 million over three years.
Holderness said European policy makers, for example, look at the social stability of a region, esthetics, wildlife, wetlands and agriculture when considering land use.
“Everything has a value placed on it,” he said.
In the United States, farmers receive $33 per acre per year for land placed in conservation reserve, he added.
These types of payments recognize that land produces public goods in addition to income for private citizens.
Canada has to examine what’s going on in the rest of the world as it develops new policy, he said.
“Canada doesn’t seem to value the people on the land.”
