The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association provides technical assistance to agricultural producers in Ontario through the Great Lakes Agricultural Stewardship Initiative’s (GLASI’s) Farmland Health Check-Up. Producers work with a Certified Crop Advisor to identify and develop BMPs specific to their lands and needs. Priority areas of the Check-Up include pollinator and soil health. Completion of a Farmland Health Check-Up is a requirement for eligibility under the Farmland Health Incentive Program.

A list of BMPs that may be recommended during the Check-Up is provided at the end of the report (OSCIA GLASI 2015b). Section 4 of the Farmland Health Check-Up Workbook assesses pollinator habitat health, including the amount of natural, semi-natural or other vegetated cover, the abundance and type of pollinator foraging habitat, and invasive/pest species management practices in uncropped areas. The workbook also provides suggestions for habitat and management, such as providing a diversity of flowering plants that bloom over the duration of the growing season, installing plantings in field margins or ditches, and protecting habitat from pesticide drift (OSCIA GLASI 2015a).

• Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, Great Lakes Agricultural Stewardship Initiative (OSCIA GLASI). 2015a. Farmland Health Check-Up Workbook. ontariosoilcrop.org/oscia-programs/glasi/farmland-health-incentive-program/.
• Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, Great Lakes Agricultural Stewardship Initiative (OSCIA GLASI). 2015b. Farmland Health Incentive Program. www.ontariosoilcrop.org/oscia-programs/glasi/farmland-health-incentive-program/

Amount of the Incentive
Technical assistance is provided at no cost.

Related Institutional Objectives or Targets
Cultivons l’avenir 2, Initiative de gérance agroenvironnementale des Grands Lacs

Keywords: pollinator, technical assistance