Experimental Acres 2024
Thanks for your interest in Experimental Acres! Scroll down to find the 2024 projects.
Experimental Acres supports farmers in Grey County with the implementation of sustainable agricultural best practices. Farmers know their land best, so Grey County is backing their ideas for how to improve yield, soil health and overall sustainability on the farm using new cropping practices, livestock or other innovations.
Experimental Acres projects fall into three categories, all with an aim to improve soil health:
1) Living Roots and Green Cover - projects which extend the time soil is covered and/or has living roots in it
2) Innovation - projects which implement new technology or systems for doing things on the farm
3) Integrating Animals on the Farm - projects which incorporate livestock into farm systems
The program is designed to de-risk the learning season of a new practice by providing financial and educational support, and hopefully help producers prepare for larger scale implementation in the future. Six farms were selected for 2024 and will run their trials in the coming season, their details are below.
2024 Projects
Peter Kotzeff - Interseeding clover into corn silage at the V2-V3 stage.
This project trials seeding the cover crop at an earlier stage than is typical.
Sections of standing corn and cover crops will be grazed mid September. Remaining corn will be combined, followed by grazing of the stubble and cover crop.
Black Sheep Farm - Continued monitoring of a 2023 Experimental Acres bale grazing project.
Bale grazing was implemented as a winter feeding strategy in the 2023-24 winter season.
Through spring and summer 2024 pasture regrowth and productivity will be monitored, along with soil heath parameters to look for any difference in the bale grazed or not areas.
Devan Penney, Fairfields Farm - Interseeding various cover crops into sweet corn plots.
This project trials successive seeding of sweet corn plots with various cover crops, looking at which species perform best in an organic sweet corn system.
Aspects to be evaluated include: establishment, weed suppression, ground cover, ability to withstand foot traffic for corn harvest, contribution to organic matter and soil health, ability to thrive into the fall after the corn crop is mown down, and ease of control for the following growing season.
All Sorts Acres - Trialing wool pellets as a soil amendment on pasture.
This project assesses whether wool pellets can impact on moisture retention, soil fertility and organic matter in a field setting.
Wool pellets will be spread over pasture and compared to a control zone in grazed and ungrazed sections.
Wade Deaken, Appinbrook Farms Ltd. - Liquid manure application using a dragline.
This project trials dragline manure application on hay and corn silage ground with the aim of reducing compaction and applying nutrients at the time the crops need them most.
Amanda Deschambeau, Braided Dalea Farm - Multi-species grazing through rotational pasture and silvopasture.
This project will see pigs and poultry rotated through a small pasture and silvopasture area.
The impact of livestock on plants and soil, and the livestock's ability to thrive on pasture will be monitored throughout the project. In early spring pigs will be left on an area for long enough to work the ground. The farm will experiment with establishing forages there once the pigs have move on.
Don Swindell, Vinegar Hill Farm - Cross seeding Forages
This project involves cross-seeding forages to achieve closer plant spacing without modifying a seed drill. The cross seeded forages should also decrease erosion as the field is planted on a slope with considerable water run off to the bottom.
Monitoring will include establishment of the forages, compaction testing for a double seeding pass vs. a control area, and weed pressure between the two.
More information on the 2024 projects will be posted as available. Stay tuned for updates!
The booklet below outlines projects which ran in 2023 in Dufferin, Grey and Wellington Counties.