The Mountain View County agricultural service board (ASB) has been given an update on the new Guide for Declaring Municipal Agricultural Disasters in Alberta from the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.
The review came during the board’s recent regularly scheduled meeting in council chambers. The ASB advises the county and province on agriculture-related issues and concerns.
The guide has been developed to “promote a consistent mechanism for data collection and monitoring to support municipal decision making to guide agricultural disaster declarations.”
It provides direction for consistent and clear messaging, identification of tools available to arrive at condition statement, access to technical data to support condition statement, timeline documentation of conditions, the ability to modify condition statements due to a change in conditions, and a communication guide noting key parties to notify, members heard.
A number of elements prompted the creation of the guide, including past drought and excessive moisture experiences impacting agricultural production and crop yields, and the 2015 drought, which resulted in a provincial declaration and multiple municipal declarations.
“Steps used toward declaring a municipal agricultural disaster can bring awareness to a developing situation, inform residents, industry and provincial and federal governments and enable collaboration with impacted producer groups,” the guide states.
“This guide is intended to be used as a tool to enable municipalities to use informed decision making process prior to making a formal declaration of agricultural disaster as conditions evolve.”
The declaration of a municipal disaster does not automatically trigger the release of provincial or federal funding.
The RMA represents 69 rural municipalities, including Mountain View County.
Meanwhile, the board was given an update on the recently announced agricultural plastics recycling pilot program.
Mountain View County councillor Al Kemmere, who is also the chairman of the provincial Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group (APRG), sent a letter to the board regarding the pilot program.
“Since the program was announced on Jan. 21, we have had an overwhelming response,” said Kemmere. “We’ve heard from 50 municipalities that are interested in finding out more about hosting a collection site, 25 producers and 10 industry groups wondering about the next steps of the program.”
The province has extended the funding for the pilot to $1 million, he said.
“This will allow us to expand the program to add more collection sites,” he said. “For those municipalities who are interested in hosting a collection site, we will have more information for you once a program operator is hired.”
Members were also given an update on the upcoming 2019 Alberta Open Farm Days and the 2019 ASB summer tour.
The 7th annual Alberta Open Farm Days take place on Aug. 17-18. As in past years, it will feature open houses, culinary events and tours.
Last year participating farms took in sales of almost $190,000, members heard.
“Open Farm Day provides a unique opportunity to highlight agriculture’s importance and vitality as a core sector in the province,” Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier said. “Alberta has some of the best food producers and processors in the world.
“I am proud that we are strengthening our support of the local food sector which continues to grow. It’s important for Albertans to connect with the hard-working farmers who are feeding their families and communities.”
The county has been approached about hosting a long table dining experience during 2019 Open Farm Days, member heard.
“The intent of the long table is to create the farm to table dining experience, “ administration said in a briefing note to the board.
“They specialize in organizing and hosting farm to table dinners. They can host a dinner anywhere.”
The board accepted the report as information.
Board members also received an update on the Farm Safety Centre’s Safety Smarts program.
Mountain View County has provided $4,200 in funding for the program every year since 2011. A request has been made for the same funding in 2019.
In 2018, a total of 1,698 students in Mountain View County received instruction on farm safety through the program. Provincewide, more than 52,000 students received instruction.
“The power of the Safety Smarts program comes from consistent, reinforced, face to face sharing,” executive director Laura Nelson said in a letter to the county.
“Hundreds of rural schools allow time for this program each year because they hear of the close calls and near misses and recognize the importance of their students receiving consistent best proactive safety messaging.
“Investing in our children now is a wise investment in the future. Influencing their personal attitudes and actions as they grow and mature will pay significant dividends as they move forward and become our decision makers of tomorrow.”
Board members also received an update on the Ag for Life program. The program’s Rural Safety Unit helps to “educate, encourage and promote safety on the farm, ranch and rural areas with a long-term goal of reducing the number of injuries and fatalities.”
The unit, which travels to rural communities, includes interactive, digital and mechanical safety learning stations. It is “aimed at rural grade 4 – 12 students, volunteers, teachers, young farm workers and farm families who live on, work, play or visit farms and ranches. Learning stations are themed around topics like hazard identification, large equipment safety, and chemical safety.”
The board received the report as information.
The ABS will be putting forward a nomination for the ALUS Canada Producer Innovation Award program.
The award recognizes farmers/ranchers who are “excellent stewards of the land and who have done outstanding and innovative work in producing ecosystem services on their farms through the ALU program.
“The award highlights achievements in conservation, project management, environmental awareness, networking and farm stewardship.”
The ASB is made up of county councillors and appointed public members from the agricultural community.
