ALUS Outaouais was launched in 2021. The program is a partnership between ALUS and Fédération de l’UPA de Outaouais-Laurentides (FUPAOL).

In the southwestern region of Quebec, Outaouais is comprised of 5 regional county municipalities (RCM) and 67 local municipalities and covers an area of nearly 30,000 square kilometres on the traditional territory of the Algonquin First Nation. Outaouais is bordered by Ontario, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the Laurentians and is mostly wooded and dotted with numerous hills, rivers and lakes.

Agriculture in the Outaouais region is concentrated along the plains of the Ottawa and Gatineau rivers and their main tributaries. With a population of nearly 400,000, the agricultural industry is comprised of many small operations, with the producers in the region primarily cultivating cattle, forage, cereals, vegetable and fruit for market distribution.

ALUS Outaouais intends to help meet locally set targets to improve biodiversity and water quality in and around the streams. In addition, it aims to recover endangered species such as the bobolink, eastern meadowlark, grasshopper sparrow, barn swallow, red-headed woodpecker, golden winged warbler, western chorus frog and blanding’s turtle. ALUS can support many different types of ecological projects on agricultural land to help provide habitat for these species.

By December 2022, almost 124 acres of ALUS projects had been registered on 27 farms. Most of these projects would include: grassland reserves not grazed until July 1 or mowed until July 15, riparian buffers and windbreaks seeded with native plant species.

ALUS Outaouais will undertake these projects as an extension of its legal entity FUPAOL, which is committed to the implementation of the ALUS program. The Federation is an agricultural trade union, which bases its raison d’être and its actions on values of respect for the individual, solidarity, collective action, social justice, equity and democracy. Its mission is to promote, defend and develop the professional, economic, social and moral interests of its members.

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