Frequently Asked Questions

ALUS is a national, non-profit charitable organization that partners with local organizations and community leaders to deliver the ALUS program at the community level. ALUS provides expertise, resources and direct financial support to ALUS communities to facilitate effective and accountable program delivery and to maximize positive environmental outcomes through the production of ecosystem goods and services (EG&S), like cleaner air and water, carbon capture and sequestration, wildlife habitat and biodiversity, climate resilience and flood and drought mitigation.

ALUS helps farmers create projects on their lands that produce EG&S and facilitates the economic exchange of these EG&S and their associated carbon and ecological offset credits in a voluntary marketplace. ALUS provides participants annual per-acre payments in exchange for managing and maintaining their project acres for optimal EG&S production.

Through ALUS’ New Acre Project, corporations and other organizations can acquire carbon and ecological offset credits produced by participants.

The ALUS concept originated in the early 2000s and the first ALUS pilot launched in 2006. Read our history.

The ALUS program supports farmers in producing valuable nature-based solutions and ecosystem goods and services on farmland by creating, enhancing and restoring wetlands, planting trees and windbreaks, planting riparian buffers, creating pollinator habitat, piloting alternative land management practices and establishing other ecologically beneficial projects on their properties. The program is community-developed and delivered. It’s governed locally by Partnership Advisory Committees (or PACs) made up of farmers and local organizations.

ALUS provides participants with per-acre annual payments in exchange for the ecosystem goods and services and associated carbon and ecological offset credits ALUS participants produce through their projects and the ongoing maintenance and management of these projects.

Participation in the program is voluntary. ALUS participants can leave the program by allowing their contract to expire after the stated contract term or they can choose to continue to participate by renewing their contracts.

The ALUS program is currently delivered in six provinces across Canada.

The ALUS program is unique because it is principle-based, community-developed and farmer-delivered. This ensures ALUS communities can address their local environmental priorities. Farmer delivery recognizes the important role farmers and ranchers play as stewards of the land. It also ensures there is a project manager on every ALUS site. The program empowers participants to deliver, manage and maintain nature-based solutions on their land.

ALUS also facilitates the transparent, voluntary marketplace exchange of ecosystem goods and services produced by ALUS participants through their projects. 

Funding comes from a wide variety of sources, including private foundations, government programs, municipal governments, individual philanthropists, corporate social responsibility programs and interested partner organizations and agricultural and environmental groups. ALUS also has many supporting partners that have generously donated in-kind support.

See the list of ALUS supporters 

ALUS is the national organization that supports local delivery of local ALUS programs and facilitates the voluntary marketplace exchange of ecological goods and services produced by ALUS participants. ALUS communities deliver the program at the community level, supported by a local governance body known as the Partnership Advisory Committee (or PAC) made up farmers, ranchers, local government, environmental organizations and knowledge holders.

Approximately 50 per cent or more of PAC members are farmers or ranchers in every ALUS community.

Meet the ALUS team

ALUS is currently active in 38 communities across six Canadian provinces (Prince Edward Island, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta). New ALUS communities are added each year. See our communities.

An ALUS community defines both the geographical region within which a local ALUS program is delivered, as well as the organizations and members administering the ALUS program at the community level. Communities are led by legal entities, which may include non-profit organizations, conservation authorities, municipalities and other environmental or agricultural groups committed to supporting ALUS participants and their projects. See our communities.

ALUS is a community-developed program. Each ALUS community establishes a Partnership Advisory Committee (PAC) to administer its local ALUS program. The PAC includes community members, such as representatives from local environmental groups, government agencies and industry. At least 50 per cent of each PAC is made up of farmers. The parent organization (ALUS) advises and supports local ALUS communities but stands firmly behind the principle that local decision making is the best way for communities to achieve their objectives.

ALUS will support any project that will increase the ecosystem goods and services provided by a natural feature.  Here are a few examples of projects funded by ALUS:

• Expanded riparian buffer zones that provide critical wildlife habitat and improve water quality.
• New, enhanced or restored wetlands that improve water quality and can protect communities against flooding and offset the effects of drought.
• New, enhanced or restored native prairie that improves natural grazing, haying options and critical habitat for species at risk.
• Pollinator hedgerows that provide habitat for native bees, which in turn pollinate our agricultural crops and wild plants.
• Enhanced grazing to accelerate grass growth and build rich, healthy soils that sequester carbon.
• Many other types of off-field or on-field projects that produce valuable ecosystem services.

Generally, no, but some ALUS communities provide payment for significant improvement of an existing environmental feature. An example would be the enhancement of a wetland by adding riparian fencing to prevent excessive impact from livestock. ALUS would provide a small annual payment for existing (and enhanced) wetlands. ALUS may also recognize landscape improvements that have been completed by the participant in the past that are accompanied by new environmental restoration, enhancement or creation initiatives. These kinds of decisions are made by local Partnership Advisory Committees (PACs). 

ALUS helps farmers produce ecological goods and services for the benefit of all Canadians based on a fee-for-service model. ALUS provides payments to participants at fair market value and does not provide environmental subsidies that artificially increase farm incomes. 

ALUS recognizes the importance of the social, economic and environmental sciences in guiding implementation of the program at all levels. ALUS uses research to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of program activities, as well as in monitoring environmental outcomes. ALUS has been working with academics across the country to evaluate outcomes of the ALUS program and its projects. These are long-term studies. The information is published and shared on the ALUS website as it becomes available. For example, see this article on Dr. Andrew MacDougall’s work on measuring benefits from ALUS Norfolk projects.

Visit our website to learn more about Who We Are and What We Do or subscribe to the ALUS e-newsletter to stay up to date with ALUS news. Follow ALUS on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram for ALUS news and interesting articles delivered straight to your feed.

Ecosystem goods and services are the benefits provided by nature that support healthy, thriving and resilient communities. These include cleaner air, cleaner water, drought and flood mitigation, climate adaptation, carbon capture and storage, and habitat for species at risk and native bees and pollinators. Ecosystem goods and services are created by restoring natural ecosystems, such as wetlands, grasslands and forests.

More details about ecosystem services.

Nature-based solutions refer to projects or actions that restore, enhance and/or protect nature and its ecosystems to help solve environmental and societal concerns, such as climate change, carbon capture and sequestration, flood and drought, food security, human health and well-being and air and water quality. Within the agricultural context, nature-based solutions can include, but are not limited to, restoring native grasslands, planting trees and shrubs on marginal, uneconomic lands or as windbreaks and buffers or restoring wetlands.

ALUS supports and empowers farmers and ranchers of all backgrounds in the delivery of ecosystem goods and services and nature-based solutions for the benefit of current and future generations. ALUS and local ALUS communities are committed to inclusivity and recognize and respect ancestral and historical connections to the land. ALUS welcomes and encourages open dialogue, knowledge sharing, partnership and engagement with all people committed to the stewardship of our land and water.

Corporations can invest in the creation and delivery of ecosystem goods and services through New Acre™ Project. New Acre Project is an ESG (environmental, social, governance) solution that enables businesses to reduce their environmental impact and create positive change one acre at a time. New acres of nature that produce ecosystem goods and services, like carbon sequestration, improved watershed health, cleaner air, cleaner water and enhanced habitat for wildlife and pollinators, are delivered by farmers and ranchers who voluntarily enroll in the ALUS program. Learn more about New Acre Project.