The Grand River Conservation
Authority has a website called Stories From the Field featuring 29 farmers who
are doing the right things by the environment.
"We've heard some really good
things about that website," Sue Brocklebank, a
conservation specialist with the GRCA, told CBC News.
She works with farmers on
conservation projects and helped compile stories for the website.
"I know it makes the
landowners who are on it really proud to see their work showcased that way.
It's almost a thank you. A way of us saying thank you to the work that they've
done.
"This is a business for them,
but they want it to be a sustainable business. They want to be able to pass it
down to the next generation," she said.
"They do often want to do
things that are obviously good for their operation, but also benefit the
environment there as well. I think that can be surprising to some
people."
She hopes people outside the
farming community will visit the website and learn something new about where
their food comes from. She also hopes farmers will use the site as a source
of new ideas.
The conservation authority has been
helping farmers find ways to make their farms more ecologically sound by
introducing things such as winter ground cover, natural wind barriers, stream
fencing, tree planting and manure storage.
But Brocklebank says advice from
another farmer is always easier to swallow than advice from outside the farming
community, which is the whole idea behind the website.
