Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) is continuing its Bird-Friendly Certified Hay (BFCH) program for the sixth consecutive year.
This was a record year for the program that connects hay growers, hay buyers and rural landowners with available land to create safe habitats for threatened grassland bird populations.
In 2018, there were 41 participants; 15 were farmers working 19 different farm properties on 388 acres of bird-friendly certified hay.
Hay harvesting is delayed until newly hatched birds are safe.
This year the agency “we observed 22 pairs of nesting Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark in participating properties.’
The BFCH program provides a matchmaking service for rural landowners trying to find tenant farmers to manage their land.
It is also an online marketplace for people buying and selling bird-friendly certified hay.
