Are you eligible for an environmental stewardship award?

By Gary Sliworsky
OMAFRA Rep.

Since 1996, the Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA) has been awarded annually at the provincial and national level to recognize cattle producers’ leadership in conservation. Nominees and applicants are selected based upon their stewardship practices, accomplishments and goals.
All beef cattle operations in Canada are eligible to apply. Producers can either be nominated by an individual or organization or apply themselves. Both methods are equally encouraged.
Nominees and applicants compete for one of five provincial awards based upon their province or residence. Past nominees are encouraged to resubmit their application. Previous recipients may not reapply.
The Ontario recipient is announced and awarded a cash prize of $500 sponsored by RBC Royal Bank at the Ontario Cattlemens’ Association Annual General Meeting which is held in February each year. The recipient then moves forward to compete at the national level in August of each year.
The national TESA recipient is announced during the Canadian Cattlemens’ Association (CCA) National Convention and Semi-Annual Meeting. All provincial recipients are awarded an all-expense paid trip for two to attend the CCA Semi-Annual Meeting that is held in different locations across Canada in August of each year. The national TESA recipient is also awarded a belt buckle and a monetary award to put towards their operation’s future environmental goals.
In an effort to mainstream the application process across the country, applications will now be due on July 1st of each year. A new, simple, easy to complete application form can be found on the OCA website under the link “Programs and Services”.
Growing Forward 2 (GF2) is a federal-provincial-territorial initiative aimed at encouraging innovation, competitiveness and market development in Canada’s agri-food and agri-products sector. In Ontario, farm, food and other agri-businesses can choose different ways to help grow their profits, expand their markets and manage risks.
Farmers, processors and organizations are encouraged to attend one of the upcoming information sessions to learn about new programs and cost – share opportunities being rolled out under Growing Forward 2. The sessions will include program details, as well as information on upcoming application deadlines and what may be required to apply for cost - share funding.
There are two sessions with options to join via WebEx (over the computer).
These will take place as follows:
•May 31, starting at 8:30 am CST
•June 4, starting at 12:30 pm CST
Pre-registration for the information meetings is required and is available at http://registration.wildapricot.org or through a link on the OSCIA website, www.ontariosoilcrop.org.
For more information: Contact oscia@ontariosoilcrop.org or 1-800-265-9751