The Alternative Land Use Services concept is a unique, incentive based concept in which farmers are paid a fair price for the environmental benefits produced on farm through conserving and restoring natural capital. Canadian farmers have acted as stewards of the land for many generations and often these good steward practises come at a cost to farming operations.

The ALUS concept is a "fee for service" proposal that recognizes and rewards farmers and ranchers for the role they play in creating healthy, sustainable landscapes vital to healthy human populations. ALUS sees the production of agricultural crops and livestock as compatible with the production of environmental benefits; and seeks to empower farmers and ranchers to continue to utilize land management practises that create productive agricultural systems and sustainable landscapes.

These environmental benefits are often referred to as "Ecological Goods and Services" and can include but are not limited to:

• Air and water purification
• Carbon Sequestration and Storage
• Wildlife habitat and biodiversity
• Soil retention, renewal, and stabilization
• Pollination
• Pollution mitigation
• Climate regulation

Through the ALUS concept, an annual incentive payment is provided to participating farmers and ranchers in return for the environmental benefits/ecological goods and services produced on farm. The ALUS concept focuses on marginal farm land for the production of these environmental benefits ensuring that agriculturally productive lands remain producers of food and fibre.

Projects that produce environmental benefits on farm include the planting of native vegetative cover, the creation and enhancement of wetlands, establishment of native pollinating plants to increase habitat for pollinator species, creation of riparian buffers and vegetative zones, reforestation, the establishment of nesting structures for waterfowl, and so forth.

Farmer Conservation Plan