Experimental Acres

Regenerative agriculture can be practiced in as many ways as there are farms. 

Building soil health through regenerative practices contributes to long-term stability in a changing climate. Adopting regenerative practices comes with a learning curve, but Experimental Acres is here to help. 

The Experimental Acres is a micro-grant program (up to $3,000) for on-farm trials of regenerative agriculture. Experimental Acres encourages starting small – only use a fraction of land to learn on before scaling up. 

Since 2023, the program has supported a total of 12 on-farm trials, directly impacting practices on 175 acres.

Farmers know their land best, which is why participants design their own Experimental Acres project. Each farm has a unique question they are trying to answer, based on their interests and goals. In addition to financial support, we also offer soil testing and community building events. 

The program offers a de-risked learning season for testing best management practices to assist in developing a business case for practices worth repeating.

• Interseeding Corn with Cover Crops and Strip Grazing - Peter Kotzeff,
• Interseeding Sweet Corn in an Organic Market Garden - Devan Penney, Fair Fields Organics
• Dragline Manure Application - Wade & Anne Deaken, Appinbrook Farms
• Continued Monitoring of 2023 Winter Bale Grazing – Brenda Hsueh, Black Sheep Farm
• Pastured Swine and Poultry – Amanda Deschambeau, Braided Dalea Farm
• Pasture Amendment Using Wool Pellets – Jennifer Osborn, All Sorts Acre
• Cross-Seeding for Erosion Control - Don Swindell, Vinegar Hill Farm

To learn more about each project and the results, check out the 2024 Project Outcomes Report, prepared by Grey Ag Services. 

• Grazing chickens on 2.5 acres of resting market garden land that is planted with cover crops – Cory Eichman, Saugeen River CSA
• 25 ac of rotational grazing for bison on annual cover, to fit into rotation with vegetable production (another 25 acres) – Eric & Stephanie Mayne, Fortitude Bison
• Intercropping 10-15 acres of corn silage with annual ryegrass and berseem clover – Jamie Farrell, Hi Hope Holsteins
• Using waste wool pellets as a slow-release fertilizer during hedge row establishment – All Sorts Acres
• Multi-species rotational grazing – Adam and Callee, The Middle Farm

For more details about the 2023 projects, check out the 2023 Project Outlines. 

The Experimental Acres program was developed as a part of Guelph-Wellington Our Food Future, a project funded by Infrastructure Canada. The County of Wellington facilitated the program in Wellington and Dufferin Counties in 2022, and Grey County joined in 2023. The 2024 program was administered by Grey Agricultural Services.