John Edworthy has won a Judges' Choice Award from the Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association for the work he's done at converting about 40 acres of a large gravel pit back to farming.
"I feel good about it, yes," Edworthy told reporters at a recent awards presentation at this farm near Ayr.
"I hope other people join in and maybe they can win the award," he said.
But the gravel industry is facing strong opposition in other parts of the Waterloo Region, including close to the Edworthy farm in North Dumfries Township, so the awards presentation was kind of like applying lipstick to a pig.
Opponents have said few of the pits have been restored and they have questioned governments’ track record on disciplining the companies.
Even North Dumfries township’s mayor opposes the most recent proposal for a new gravel pit and she noted that it means giving up revenues. It currently garners about $750,000 a year.
Edworthy said that so far, 40 per cent of the gravel pit has been rehabilitated back to its original state. He's been farming on it again for more than five years, but his hope is to rehabilitate the entire pit.
The Ontario Aggregate Resources Act makes it mandatory for aggregate pits to undergo "progressive rehabilitation" as companies extract raw materials.
That means farmland needs to be restored back to a farmland, and companies must do it as they go along versus waiting until all the aggregate has been extracted.
According to Ontario's interactive pits and quarry map, there are more than 80 aggregate pits in Waterloo region. More than 40 of them are in North Dumfries township.
