Mountain View County council has approved the county's Agriculture Service Board's new strategic plan.
The 2014 - 2016 plan was approved at the Dec. 11 regularly scheduled council meeting. The plan is a guiding document for the board's programs, and is used for multiple purposes, including budgeting, service level reviews, orientation and year-end reporting.
The plan sets out principal strategic goals in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure, environment, community, economy and governance.
The Agriculture Service Board acts as an advocate of agriculture, and advises council on agriculture related issues in the municipality.
It is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Weed Control Act, Agricultural Pests Act, Soil Conservation Act, Animal Health, and other agricultural and environmental legislation in the county.
The board is made up of four members at large and three councillors.
The plan approved by council on Dec. 11 includes strategies to encourage and support sustainable agriculture in the county.
• Promote the safe, responsible disposal and use of agricultural pesticides by, among other things, providing a site for recycling of pesticide containers, providing information to producers on how and where to dispose of containers properly, and provide training and certification of MVC agriculture producers that are interested in taking the farmers' pesticide certificate course.
• Promote beneficial management practices (BMPs) that are environmentally sustainable by holding workshops, field days, and one-on-one consultations on the subject of BMPs; provide financial incentives and set up demonstration sites for the implementation of BMPs; promote the use of BMPs on county-owned land and use those projects as demonstration sites; promote in local media environmentally sustainable agriculture activities and projects.
• Promote agricultural recycling initiatives by promoting and continuing with a farm plastic recycling incentive program to initiate recycling of plastic waste; promote and continue with an agricultural wire recycling program; distribute and promote up-to-date information on recycling all types of agricultural waste products.
