The County of Stettler discussed correspondence regarding participation in a potential multi-municipality partnership under the Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) program during its Agricultural Service Board (ASB) meeting on Aug. 20.

The county received an invitation from Starland County to attend a presentation scheduled for Oct. 7, 2025, which would outline a proposed partnership between Stettler, Starland and Kneehill counties. The program, known as ALUS, works with farmers and ranchers to create voluntary projects that support biodiversity, strengthen climate resilience and provide ecosystem services such as water and air quality improvements, carbon storage and wildlife habitat. Producers are compensated for their participation without land title changes or permanent restrictions.

The proposed tri-county partnership would operate under a shared staff and administrative model, which has been applied in other regions including Barrhead–Westlock–Athabasca and Wetaskiwin–Leduc. Cost-sharing among municipalities is expected to expand program capacity while reducing individual expenses.

Questions were raised by council members about the experiences of other counties, including Red Deer, which was believed to have stepped back from involvement. Concerns were also expressed about how ALUS would align with the work of Ducks Unlimited and whether productive agricultural land could be lost to conservation measures. Council members discussed issues such as restrictions on pasturing in Ducks Unlimited areas and how landowners could exit an ALUS agreement if they chose to do so.

Further information on ALUS shows that it is a Canadian farmer-delivered conservation program managed by the registered charity ALUS Canada. It funds and oversees nature projects on working farms and ranches such as wetlands, grasslands and pollinator habitat. Local communities, often counties, deliver projects through advisory committees made up of producers. The program originated in the early 2000s in Manitoba and Ontario and was relaunched in 2016 as ALUS Canada, supported by a major grant from the Weston Family Foundation.

ALUS is financed through a mix of private foundations, corporations, donors and municipal, provincial and federal governments. The Weston Family Foundation has contributed more than $10 million since 2016. Corporate partners participating through the New Acre stream include TD Bank Group, General Mills, TC Energy, Aurora Cannabis and Coca-Cola.

TC Energy’s biodiversity and habitat projects include methane-reduction initiatives that use metrics to quantify, track and verify decreases in methane emissions. These measurement, reporting and verification systems are intended to help monitor progress toward international climate goals such as the Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming below 1.5 C. Methane reduction targets can include the Global Methane Pledge, which calls for a 30 per cent reduction from 2020 levels by 2030, and sector-specific goals set for industries such as oil and gas or agriculture to limit emissions from facilities and operations.

General Mills has set a corporate goal to advance regenerative agriculture on one million acres by 2030, with reports from mid-2024 indicating the company had already reached about half that milestone. The company has also partnered with Walmart and Ahold in joint acreage programs. Regenerative agriculture is described as a holistic land management approach that restores soil health, increases biodiversity, enhances the water cycle and captures carbon from the atmosphere. Practices include reducing tillage, planting cover crops, diversifying crop rotations, integrating livestock and using compost, with the goal of creating resilient ecosystems that are better able to withstand droughts and floods.

Producer agreements with ALUS are voluntary and non-permanent, typically running for five years with the option to renew. Contracts cover project type, payments and maintenance responsibilities. Landowners may choose not to renew when the term ends, and early withdrawal is generally allowed, though repayment of some establishment costs may be required.

Council also discussed the need to understand how much land in the county is currently under environmental preservation and whether that could affect future agricultural development. Some members expressed concern about the transparency of ALUS funding, noting that certain large contributors were not publicly highlighted.

A motion was carried to send two councillors and two staff members to the upcoming meeting in order to gather more information, with one member opposed.