Environment committee  We operate in 40 different communities across Canada, but what's unique about our program is that it's delivered locally, so the local committee led by farmers makes the decisions on what occurs on the Norfolk sand plain, for instance, and they do locally appropriate things. One thing that is very popular here is the restoration of tallgrass prairie on our lands.

Environment committee  I hope everyone bears in mind that in talking about restoring natural infrastructure, we have to capture all manner of things from entering the freshwater courses, be it topsoil, pesticides or perhaps fertilizers. These pieces of land—these natural spaces—that we create provide a wonderful way to buffer our water from all the activities that we humans have on our lands.

Environment committee  Yes, we have.

Environment committee  I think it's through through the leadership that we provided across our community partnerships, leadership from a group that you know well—the Keystone Agricultural Producers, for example, who originally sponsored this ALUS idea in the early 2000s. The way we challenge the concept is by understanding the opportunity.

Environment committee  I will say that the SDTC process that we participated in to receive their $5-million investment was a very intensive, deep-dive, due-diligence process wherein I saw no malfeasance, no corruption. That due diligence process was intense. It's supported through audits, and I believe that for us, at least, our experience was that there was a clean process.

Environment committee  Thank you for hosting ALUS in your community. We're very proud of what's been achieved there. We hope to repeat that Outaouais success again and again across the country with proper financial support. What's interesting to recognize is that sometimes our work falls through the cracks.

Environment committee  The answer is both. Small farmers, of course, are a bit more closely connected to their soil. They can put their hands in the dirt and identify where a wetland or buffer strip would be most efficacious. Large farmers, however, have tools that small farmers don't. Modern-day farming tools allow them to identify pieces of farmland that are marginal or uneconomic to farm because of the scale and size of farming.

Environment committee  My experience is limited on that front. I have been engaged personally with a tractor manufacturer that wanted to test the electrification of farm equipment, but my experience is limited to that. I would say that by and large, we farm with fossil fuels. Increasingly, the way we can reduce our use of fossil fuels involves more no-till agriculture, for instance, or fewer passes across the field—those sorts of things.

Environment committee  I'll go directly to my own farm. I became involved in this world as the third participant farmer in the ALUS program back in 2006. Over 1,600 farm families have followed our lead. One very simple example is this: Through our restoration work on native grasslands, which ALUS has helped me achieve on my lands, organic matter has doubled in 11 years.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for inviting me to speak again today. You'll recall that I'm a farmer and rancher. I'm in Norfolk County, Ontario, and I am also the CEO of the only farmer-led community-based charitable organization in Canada, delivering nature-based solutions on farmland.

Environment committee  Yes, of course.

Environment committee  We've had some direct experience in the United States. We're opening ALUS in Iowa and Ohio, so I'll compare it directly to the experience there. The infrastructure bill the Biden government introduced has provided not only fresh capital—lots of capital—but also fresh thinking about the value of nature-based solutions for the planet and the people.

Environment committee  I'd like to answer that question by pointing out the opportunity. What we see and what we've learned from the farm participants and leaders who deliver our program across the country is that they see their farms somewhat differently. The farm is capable of producing food, fibre, energy and ecosystem services all at the same time.

Environment committee  I'll be quite clear. ALUS is inspired by the conservation reserve program, with one particular twist: The farmers themselves, at the community level—they know their lands, communities and priorities best—deliver the program. It's interesting how, for both individual farmers and groups at the community level, the definition of “marginal farmland” has shifted.

Environment committee  Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for inviting me to speak today. I'm a farmer and a rancher in Norfolk County, Ontario, as well as the CEO of the only farmer-led, community-based charitable organization in Canada delivering nature-based solutions.