The Comox Valley is the winter host to more than 10% of the world’s Trumpeter Swan population, tripling from 1,000 birds in the valley in 1990 to 3,000 today. Local farmers welcome the increased numbers, though the return of larger and larger flocks is having an economic and emotional impact.
Damage caused by these fowl could include loss of forage for livestock, reduced drainage in fields, removal of newly-seeded forages, craters the size of bathtubs in vegetable fields and weed growth in bare areas.
“Often up to 700 acres of cover crops are planted each year and each year there is very little left in the spring for the farmer to garner the benefits of planting these crops” says Graeme Fowler, program coordinator and with Ducks Unlimited Canada. “Waterfowl consume these lure crops and then move on to the more abundant perennial forage fields.”
To address this problem, the Comox Valley Farmers’ Institute is implementing a multi-stepped strategy to help farmers manage the impact of waterfowl in their fields via their Wildlife Mitigation and Compensation Program. With funding support from the Agriculture Environment Partnership Initiative, the program utilizes the planting of cover or lure crops on otherwise fallow fields to keep waterfowl from perennial forage fields between January and March. Other potential mitigation techniques could include improving field drainage to deter swans – which prefer saturated field conditions – or planting forage species that are less palatable to the waterfowl. In addition, “hazing” techniques are utilized when possible and could include: dogs, electronic avian deterrents, noise devices, flags, barrels and decoys to keep swans away from sensitive fields. The success of these techniques varies by field size, location, drainage and surrounding tree cover.
Partial reimbursement is available to farmers who plant these lure crops prior to a fall cut-off date. Farmers can recoup approximately half of their planting costs. This project, which works cooperatively with Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Comox Valley Waterfowl Management Program, has just completed its first year and represents the first time Comox Valley farmers have initiated a major project with funding assistance to help address forage losses due to waterfowl.
“Farmers in the valley have been frustrated every fall and winter watching ever increasing numbers of waterfowl devouring their perennial forages and nobody had a solution,” says Jill Hatfield, regional agrologist with the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. “This program puts the control in the farmer’s hands through their farm organization and, maybe more importantly, acknowledges the financial losses farmers have sustained year after year."
This project – an undertaking of the Comox Valley Farmers’ Institute and funding partners including Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Agriculture Environment Partnership Initiative (AEPI) – is an example of how working together can bring awareness, understanding and improvement of issues to both farmers and their communities.
The AEPI provides funding assistance for farmers in B.C. to address environmental issues, enhance environmental sustainability and reduce the impacts of wildlife on agriculture. Funding for the AEPI is provided through the Agri-Food Futures Fund, a joint program of the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. AEPI funds are held in trust with the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C., an industry-led, non-profit organization established in 1996 whose mandate is to support innovative projects that place the BC agri-food industry at the leading edge, enabling it to seize new opportunities and deal with emerging issues. The B.C. Agriculture Council (BCAC), who represent the majority of agricultural commodities in BC, seeks to foster cooperation and a collective response to matters affecting the future of agriculture in the province and facilitates programs and service delivery for a number of programs that benefit the industry. BCAC manages this program.
Contact:
Graeme Fowler
Program Coordinator
250-339-0643
