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.

Experimental Acres written over top of an aerial view of fields

About Experimental Acres

The Experimental Acres is a micro-grant programme (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.

Farmers know their land best, which is why participants design their own Experimental Acres. 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. Projects typically fall within three categories:

Icon of plants growing in a field in front of a field of greens

Crop / Planting

Maintaining soil cover helps reduce soil erosion from wind and precipitation. Example practices include cover cropping, intercropping and introducing new crops into the rotation.

Icon of a cow eating crops in front of a photograph of sheep in a field.

Animal / Grazing

Integrating animals on the farm can have many benefits to soil health and promote carbon storage in cropland soil. Example practices include rotational grazing, silvopasture, and bale grazing.

Icon of a new plant growing in a field next to a cow, background is a photograph of a lavender field.

Innovation

The innovation stream is for projects that can benefit soil health and do not fit into other categories. Example practices include tarping to reduce tillage intensity, winter crop rotation, and planting tall grass prairie.

Past Projects

Please Note: This programme runs from April to November, with applications for the next cohort opening each November.