The Mountain View County agricultural service board (ASB) has reviewed its proposed 2019 budget and sent it to council with a recommendation that it be approved.
The move came during the board’s recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The budget calls for total recurring expenses of $1,158,280, up from $1,149,246 in 2018.
Expenses proposed in 2019 include $200,000 for the roadside spraying, $100,000 for brush control, $95,000 for grass mowing and $25,000 for the toadflax program.
The invasive plant management portion of the budget calls for total expenses of $113,000, down slightly from $113,818 in 2018. Proposed expenses there include $90,000 for weed inspection.
Proposed revenue in 2019 is $319,859, including $228,359 in grants.
Proposed workshops in 2019 include a farm transition workshop, an energy workshop/solar workshop, a working well workshop, a septic sense workshop, an agroforestry & woodlot extension workshop, and a clubroot workshop.
Meanwhile, the ASB has reviewed resolutions set to come before the provincial agricultural service board conference in January.
The move also came during the board’s recent meeting in council chambers.
The resolutions are put forward as recommendations to the provincial government. In all, six resolutions were considered by the ASB on Dec. 17.
One resolution calls on Health Canada and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to reconsider their recommendation to cancel the use of products containing strychnine for the control of Richardson’s ground squirrels.
“There needs to be a product available to producers to effectively assist in the control of Richardson’s Ground Squirrels,” the resolution states. “Two per cent liquid strychnine is an essential tool in any agricultural producer’s integrated pest management toolbox as a consistent, effect tool in controlling infestations.”
Another resolution calls on the province to “implement an enhanced predator compensation program that could utilize the GPS location and date time features and photo capabilities of smart phone technology to provide evidence to assist in the confirmation of livestock death and livestock injury in a timely manner.”
ASB board member Tom Jackson suggested the resolution include “livestock death and livestock injury caused by predation.” Board members will make that suggestion known during the convention.
Another resolution calls on the province to “compensate producers 50 per cent of the deadstock pick up fees with producers bearing the remainder of the costs.”
Another resolution calls on the province to “develop a process to allow farmers and landowners to access carbon credits for land used for permanent pasture or land that is left forested.”
Another resolution calls on the province to “immediately strike a multi-stakeholder committee to work at reducing the use of fresh water by the oil and gas industry in Alberta.”
Another resolution calls on the province to “review its summer temporary employment program to include farms and small businesses that are not incorporated.”
The ASB advises the county and province on agricultural issues and concerns. It is made up of county councillors and appointed public members.
