Weston family funds soil health projects

The Weston Family Foundation said it is supporting eight soil health projects with  $10 million.

The announcement comes in the midst of public complaints that the Weston family is raking in record profits while shoppers at its Loblaws, Zehrs and related supermarkets are hard hit by rising food prices.

The foundation put the $10 million up for grabs last spring and got 38 applications which a review team that included farmers whittled down to 16.

In today's climate, $10 million is a public relations bargain.

The eight that were chosen are:

-       = digital soil mapping tools for better nitrogen management

-     -  =a farmer-led peer network,

-       = a reverse auction model to incentivize small grain and cover crop acres

-       = research into cover crop best practices,

-       = benchmarking soil in Ontario’s Greenbelt

-       = soil health outreach

-      =  a registry to help underpin markets for ecosystem service credits and

-       = Indigenous-led education for managing First Nations farmland.

“There’s a lot of complexity in soil health and in rebuilding healthy, fertile soil, so there’s lots of ways of going at it. But we wanted to find projects that would help promote beneficial management practices, not just to the individuals involved, but hopefully communicate it out into the wider farming community,” said Eliza Mitchell, chair of the foundation’s conservation committee.