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A few meters of vegetation between fields and waterways can have a huge impact: improving water quality, supporting biodiversity, sequestering carbon, reducing soil erosion… and maybe even bringing back trout in a river near you. More and more experts are suggesting paying farmers to establish riparian strips, a sort of compensation for services rendered to nature.
On the other end of the line, Stéphane Campeau, professor at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, swears by ecological corridors, especially those along agricultural lands.
The riparian corridors also help to bring back “30% of natural capital”, a percentage which is far from being a coincidence. It was in Montreal itself, during COP15 in 2022, that many countries committed to protecting 30% of natural environments by 2030.
Mr. Campeau is seeing the establishment of expanded riparian strips very close to his home university, thanks to a collective project supported by both the MRC of Nicolet-Yamaska and the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA).
With other partners, these regional players have developed a turnkey service for the installation and maintenance of expanded riparian strips in agricultural areas.
And it works: “We already have a waiting list of producers for next year,” says Stéphanie Lord, director of sustainable development and ecological transition for the MRC of Nicolet-Yamaska.
“It took me 15 minutes to find four producers. They were super interested and they quickly said that they were on board,” says Yann Bourassa, team leader in regional development and agri-environment at the UPA.
Understanding the benefits of riparian areas
To understand the enthusiasm around this project, we need to take a small step back and understand the fundamental issues linked to the occupation of the territory.
On the one hand, farmers are under financial pressure and often cannot expand their cultivable areas due to regulatory restrictions. “You can’t put a second floor on a field,” Mr. Bourassa also emphasizes.
On the other hand, watercourses in agricultural areas still show signs of advanced degradation with critical quality. In watersheds deemed degraded, there is a moratorium on cultivated areas.
At the confluence of these different issues are the riparian zones. Quebec imposes buffer zones of three meters in agricultural areas between crops and waterways, strips which allow pesticides and chemical fertilizers to be filtered and to retain the soil.
But they are not established everywhere, despite a regulation which is already more than 20 years old. Many producers see the strips as areas that are removed from their territory: “You remove 4, 5 or 6 rows of corn or soybeans, but over hundreds of meters, it ends up being a lot,” illustrates Mr. Bourassa.
“Producers often say: I am in production, I am not a forester or maple grower,” also quotes Mr. Campeau, from the Department of Environmental Sciences at UQTR.
They understand “these societal demands,” says Mr. Bourassa, but they are also caught in their own dilemmas, their lack of time and their imperatives of profitability.
The fact of obtaining a “fair price”, he describes, however, did not fail to convince them to establish riparian strips extended to 10 meters, rather than the regulatory 3 meters.
“We saw a desire among producers to be part of the solution,” says Stéphanie Lord.
The good idea to replicate
The recipe is not complicated: researchers have developed different planting scenarios and quantified certain “ecosystem services”, says Raphaël Proulx, also a professor at UQTR. The MRC submitted the project to the Climate Municipalities program to obtain funds. The UPA brought producers into the discussion, to develop criteria that make the project feasible.
Mr. Proulx first developed three protocols to generate carbon credits, which would have the potential to generate a rebate, whether on an individual or collective level. The three scenarios included the planting of grass type plants (erect panicle), shrub willow or even trees.
Ultimately, it was switchgrass that seemed to be the right plant to start the project. The calculation was carried out for 12 years of cultivation of this grass, which could be transformed into pellets for heating “to replace old oil boilers”, explains Mr. Proulx.
“For the farmer, it also remains a form of agriculture, it remains within an agronomic vision. Instead of generating a maximum amount of corn or soy, it will generate carbon credits,” explains the expert.
“The effect was quite rapid with panicum, which also develops a root system which is good for the soil,” adds M.me Lord.
Thanks to subsidies, the MRC of Nicolet-Yamaska then contracted leases for enlarged riparian strips (10 meters) and was able to offer an attractive price per hectare. These agreements are currently for five years, but they are renewable for up to 30 years, she adds.
This time horizon is neither too long nor too short, Mr. Bourassa also believes. “Farmers want to remain in control of their own home,” he explains, and therefore renting was a better option than easements. They have also chosen for the moment to keep their carbon credits rather than pool them.
Finding volunteers then turned out to be child’s play. The areas for this year are already planted and the lessons learned will be used to sow at least double next year, specify the instigators of the project.
“This model can spread,” says Stéphane Campeau, convinced: “For me, it should be a national policy. In a fairly small area, we would achieve several environmental objectives and finance producers, all at the same time. »