Ontario strengthening province’s cattle farm sector

 Paisley, Ontario – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $5 million to help make community grazing pastures in Ontario more productive and resilient. To support the Ontario government's plan to protect Ontario, this funding will help strengthen Ontario's agriculture and agri-food sector by helping cattle farmers improve the quality of shared community pasture lands for their herds so they can stay competitive and resilient to withstand economic uncertainly from the U.S. and whatever comes our way.

The Community Pastures Initiative, funded through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), will provide funding to eligible community pastures so they can adopt best management practices and technologies that boost the quality of these lands for grazing animals, while also enhancing biodiversity and strengthening soil health for the long-term.

This initiative will support up to 100% of eligible costs for the design, construction and maintenance of projects such as:

• rotational grazing
• improving pasture quality by planting resilient perennial forage crops
• permanent grasslands (including forage)
• riparian buffers and pollinator habitats
• management of at-risk natural features
• tree buffers and shelterbelts
• integrated tree, forage and livestock grazing systems
• wetlands, water retention and runoff control

The Sustainable CAP is a 5-year (2023-2028), $3.5-billion investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen competitiveness, innovation and resiliency of Canada's agriculture, agri‐food and agri‐based products sector. This includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and a $2.5 billion commitment that is cost-shared 60% federally and 40% provincially/territorially for programs designed and delivered by the provinces and territories.