ASB GRANT PROGRAM
Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development may provide grants to assist an Agricultural
Service Board (ASB). The ASB Grant program was reviewed and restructured in 2010 as
part of an initiative by Municipal Affairs to streamline grants available to municipalities.
The ASB Grant was combined with the Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture
(
AESA) Grant as part of this process.
The ASB Grant Program was re-assessed in 2012 to ensure it continued to meet the needs
of ASBs. The focus of this assessment was to determine: how to make the reporting system
more effective, the environmental issues facing municipalities and how to allocate the
Environmental Funding Stream dollars. Changes to the program were made based on the
recommendations received from ASB members and agricultural fieldmen.
The purpose of the grant is to support ASBs with the administration of legislative
requirements under the
ASB Act
and in the development and delivery of environmental
extension programming.
The expected Program outcomes include:
1.
Targeted prevention and control of agricultural diseases, pests, weeds and delivery
of soil conservation programs.
2.
Development of effective agricultural policies and plans that are implemented and
address the needs and issues of the municipality related to agricultural practices.
3.
Increased awareness, understanding and implementation of environmental
agricultural practices and programs with an emphasis on mitigating agriculture’s
impact on watershed health.
4.
Development of strong collaborations with Alberta Agriculture and Rural
Development (ARD), other municipalities, governments, agencies etc. to achieve
outcomes listed in 1 through 3.
The ASB Grant Program is available to municipalities that have formed an ASB under the
ASB Act
.
Municipalities must have an agricultural fieldman appointed and carry out
Legislative and Environmental Activities approved by the Minister.
The ASB Grant Program runs on a three year grant cycle and allocates a total of $13.26
million annually. It consists of two funding streams: Legislative and Environmental. There
is $11.5 million dollars available for the Legislative Funding Stream and $1.76 million
available under the Environmental Funding Stream. The Legislative Funding Stream is
distributed using an allocation formula and the Environmental Funding Stream is
distributed using a merit based process.
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