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Let's Talk

VOL. 30, NO. 2

Westmorland Institution Environmental Farm Plan
For Greener Acres

BY Paul Provost, M.Sc., National Co-ordinator, Environmental Protection Programs

Search coordinator/drug dog handler James Robinson and  his canine companion, CJ, search the interior perimeter of Kingston Penitentiary.
The Westmorland Institution farm

To help protect the hydrosphere and thus minimize water pollution, target 2.1.2 of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) 2003 will ensure that releases of effluents containing bacteria, fertilizers and/or pesticides from farm operations are reduced by 10% compared to baseline 2000 by March 2007. Armed with this goal, in 2005, CORCAN personnel in charge of farm operations at New Brunswick’s Westmorland Institution, working with regional and national headquarters, launched the development and gradual implementation of an environmental farm plan (EFP) to reduce the environmental effects of their farming activities.

Agriculture, Stockbreeding and the Environment

Farming and stockbreeding are still among the world’s noblest callings. Nowadays, more than ever, this nobility must join with wisdom to ensure sustainability in practices. Indeed, when improperly managed, farming and breeding activities can pose a major threat to environmental (air/water/soil) quality. The main negative environmental effects may be summed up as follows: pollution of surface and groundwater by contaminated runoff and leaching; gas emissions that generate odours and sometimes include greenhouse gases; soil contamination caused by inappropriate fertilizer or pesticide use and inappropriate land management, including nutrients. In this setting, spreading manure, crop rotation, ploughing practices and soil compaction and erosion are some of the realities that farmers and breeders face on a seasonal basis. And it is precisely in a process attempting to reconcile cost effectiveness with social and ecological priorities that an EFP becomes most meaningful.

Sustainable Benefits

The purpose of an EFP is to help farm producers develop a practical plan for managing their farms in a socially acceptable, economically viable and environmentally responsible way. Producers developing an EFP are taking a major step towards ensuring the sustainability of the land they are farming. The initial stage involves filling out an awareness document designed to help producers gauge the inherent risks of their farming or breeding practices. Through risk assessment questions that bring out the strengths as well as the weaknesses of their operations, producers can later set realistic goals to protect and enhance the environment on their farms.

Concerned about optimizing their operations and attracted by the many benefits associated with setting up their own EFP, CORCAN personnel working on the Westmorland Institution farm jumped at the chance to get involved in this pilot project. The main area of interest and activity entered into thus far is the development of a nutrient management plan (NMP) to optimize the process and percentage of fertilizer use in terms of crop and soil types. The NMP includes, for example, creation of a detailed map of the lands involved and a stringent analysis of the structure and physicochemical properties of plots affected by fertilizer use. The data collected on each plot are then entered into a graphics program (database) that confers precise control over materials and quantities placed on the soil while fostering improved management of plots under cultivation. Special considerations are also raised to mark off buffer zones that prevent nutrient runoff and leaching into drainage ditches and thus shield nearby streams from eutrophication (killing of animal life by oxygen deprivation caused by a dense plant population).

Lastly, the Westmorland Institution EFP also focusses on pesticide storage and farm waste management as well as other beneficial outcomes that will emerge as this project settles in.

Exportable Outcomes

The EFP proposes specific improvements for the Westmorland Institution farm in response to one of CSC’s SDS 2003 objectives. The authorities running the EFP count on exporting their training soon to other CORCAN farms in Ontario and on the Prairies. Setting up an EFP makes a lot of sense, not simply because it demonstrates leadership and the advanced training of staff and offenders working on CSC farms, but also because it is synonymous with the responsible and sustainable management of the valuable natural resources that form the basis of our food chain. ♦

 

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