Gilvesy changes his involvement with ALUS

Bryan Gilvesy recently stepped back as the CEO of ALUS to become the organization’s chief strategy officer. The owner of YU Ranch south of Tillsonburg in Norfolk County, Gilvesy said it was time to slow down. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

ALUS Canada is going through a transformation as Tillsonburg-area resident Bryan Gilvesy steps back as CEO.

ALUS, (initially known as Alternate Land Use Services), mission is engaging “farmers and ranchers in creating nature-based solutions on their land to build climate resilience and enhance biodiversity for the benefit of communities and future generations.” This innovative, farmer-led program accomplishes this by paying farmers for the environmental services provided.

The Norfolk Federation of Agriculture, Norfolk County and Gilvesy have been a driving force behind the program growing from one of the initial pilots of the program to it being a nationwide initiative in six provinces, 39 communities and encompassing more than 56,000 acres.

ALUS was the brainchild of Ian Wishart, then the president of the Keystone Agriculture Producers in Manitoba (the provincial farm organization). His concept was to pay farmers for the environmental services they provide. A partnership was struck with Delta Waterfowl in 2004 and the concept grew.

Norfolk Federation of Agriculture and the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council embraced the concept in 2006 and launched a pre-pilot to test the program. This was the second pilot in the country, and the first in Ontario. Since the first pilot in Manitoba didn’t survive, Norfolk’s program is now the oldest in the country.

Dave Reid, then the coordinator of the Norfolk Land Stewardship program, was one of the original advocates of ALUS. He worked with Fred Judd from the Norfolk Federation of Agriculture to get it on the ground. Gilvesy, who lives south of Tillsonburg in Norfolk County and transitioned his former tobacco farm into a longhorn cattle operation, was the third participant in the pre-pilot. Gilvesy became chairman of the local Partnership Advisory Committee (PAC) and the inaugural CEO as ALUS grew into a national entity and a standalone organization in May of 2015.

Gilvesy, who admitted it might be time to slow down, handed over the CEO role of ALUS to Jordan Sinclair, who was previously the vice-president of strategy and a member of the ALUS Chatham-Kent Partnership Advisory Committee. Gilvesy will remain and become the chief strategy officer.

He sees this as a step forward for the organization, saying it will be more professionally managed.

“She’s a professional,” he said. “That builds credibility and helps us build our vision for the long term.”

Although Sinclair has been involved in agriculture her entire life, she is not a farmer. Wanting to emphasize ALUS is still farmer-driven, she organized the CEO’s Farmer Advisory Committee.

“It’s several farmers she will consult with to ensure we don’t lose the farm leadership aspect of ALUS,” Gilvesy said.

Delhi-area resident Joe Csoff will be part of the committee. He is currently an ALUS participant and the PAC liaison.

Although many similar programs are government run, ALUS will continue to be funded by private industry, banks and insurance companies, and support from municipal, provincial and federal governments.

“ALUS will be farmer-led and community-driven,” Gilvesy said. “That’s the magic of the program is local farm leadership.”

The only exception to government not running ALUS is in Prince Edward Island where the government embraced the program nearly two decades ago and runs it province-wide.

Gilvesy emphasized there are not intentions to turn ALUS into a national, federal government program. He explained one reason farmers trust ALUS is because it’s farmer run.

“It’s a healthy, balanced model that serves many priorities and interests,” he said.

One of the springboards for ALUS has been the ongoing environmental awareness and that farmers can be part of creating a healthier environment for society. This could be through planting native vegetation buffers next to waterways on farms, planting native grasses on marginal lands, or creating pollinator habitat and wetlands. Development of ALUS on a particular piece of land is done with input from the local coordinator, but Gilvesy emphasized it’s what the farmer wants.

“The ALUS model is proven, it’s effective and ready to grow,” Gilvesy said.

The goal is for ALUS to operate in every province – it’s currently in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and PEI - and to satisfy the demand for growth in communities across Canada.

Gilvesy notes the traditional thinking amongst urban environmentalists is to buy existing wild lands and put a fence around it. ALUS differs in it is creating new net nature, and is not fencing it off. Since its inception, ALUS has created about 250 square-kilometres of new nature.

“That’s the size of a nice national park,” Gilvesy said with a sense of satisfaction.

Modest in his part of the exponential growth of ALUS, Gilvesy started with planting native prairie grasses on his farm. He quickly saw the value of this habitat for nesting birds, pollinators and wildlife. After a time, he also saw the potential of the grass to provide biomass for his longhorn cattle after bird nesting was finished for the year. This is an example of how ALUS works with farmers, he explained.

When he first signed on, Gilvesy could see the potential growth of the program, but never imagined he would be the CEO. His ability to connect to farmers, as a farmer, has helped the organization grow. Gilvesy is proud of the 492 partner agencies, from services clubs, to conservation groups, municipalities and the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, have worked with ALUS.

When Gilvesy stepped back earlier this year, he had been CEO for a month less than a decade. Another of the legacies he leaves is how ALUS demonstrated a remote-run organization can work – ALUS won the Canadian Non-Profit Employer of Choice Award in 2019.

Gilvesy will continue to promote ALUS within the farm and business community. Or, as he said, “putting rural communities and farmers at the centre of solving problems.”