Upper Thames River Phosphorus Reduction Program

• Expense Claim Form and proof of payment.
• Soil sample results and crop fertility plans for each field.
• Georeferenced photos.
• Invoices for manure and custom application, if applicable.
• Design and drawing information, and before and after photos for forestry and tree planting projects.

Who is eligible?

• Ontario residents.
• Landowners planting 50 trees or more on their own for forestry and tree planting funding.

Who is not eligible

• Applicants who start work before written confirmation of funding.
• Projects outside the UTRCA watershed.
• Applicants without the required permits or approvals.

Eligible expenses

• Materials and labour, other than the applicant’s, for approved clean water diversion projects.
• Professional services and consulting fees.
• Contracted labour costs, planting costs, and purchase of native trees and shrubs.
• Tree protection systems, maintenance agreement costs, and establishment of cover crop used in conjunction with a tree planting project.
• Engineering fees, permanent and temporary fencing, alternative water devices, and materials for eligible erosion control projects.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Applicant labour and machinery use, permits and fees, and HST where the applicant is entitled to an HST rebate.
• Paving or hardening exercise yards, laneways, travel routes, building floors, or other surfaces; covers on liquid storages; and eavestroughs on new structures.
• Farmstead shelterbelts, landscaping for aesthetic or privacy purposes, primary hydro lines, cost of drilling new wells, new tile drainage not part of the project, and engineer reports for municipal drainage projects.
• Projects that are legislative or legal requirements, invoices not issued in the application name or farm business, and commercial stock, fruit trees, or Christmas tree species that are commercially marketable in less than 15 years.
• Ineligible cover crop, reduced tillage, manure management, and phosphorus application practices, including marketable grain crops the next year, alfalfa, canola, triticale as a single species, invasive species, disk rippers or chisel plows, soybean/bean stubble left untouched, silage corn stubble without a cover crop, no-till planting of winter wheat or other cereals or forages, unharvested corn or bean fields, surface application of solid manure after August 31 unless incorporated within 24 hours and a cover crop is planted, surface application of liquid manure after August 15 unless incorporated within 24 hours, nitrogen applications, applications of <20 lbs/acre P2O5, surface broadcast applications not incorporated, fields with average soil P higher than 30 ppm Bicarb P, manure sourced from outside the Upper Thames watershed, fields where manure applications have previously been funded unless P has been fully utilized, and fields with fewer than 1 composite sample per 25 acres.

Eligible geographic areas

• Upper Thames watershed and UTRCA watershed, excluding fields within the Municipality of South Huron.

• Priority is given to projects in designated subwatersheds, areas prone to erosion, fields with high soil P levels, and fields being managed to draw down zones of high P.
• Priority is given to practices that are new to the operation and to applicants new to the program.
• Funding priority is given to operations adopting new practices and those new to the Phosphorus Program.
• Operations adding any new eligible practice, such as 4Rs, tree planting, or erosion control structures, are exempt from the waitlist, subject to available program funds.
• For Year 1 or 2 participants, funding for practices that are not new to the operation is limited to 50% of total eligible acres per applicant, and remaining acres are placed on a waitlist.

• Review the Project Guidelines.
• Submit an application.
• If you are using cover crops on some fields and reduced tillage on others, include all fields in one submission.
• For Forestry and Tree Planting, contact Rob Davies for application and submit appropriate design and drawing information.

• UTRCA will review applications and follow up with applicants.
• Approved work must be completed as described on the application.
• Expense claims must include the Expense Claim Form and supporting documentation, and UTRCA will inspect the final project before payment is issued.
• By applying, you consent to UTRCA collecting, managing, and sharing project cost and crop management data with public and government partners in aggregate form, and you agree to inspections during normal business hours with reasonable notice.
• UTRCA may collect photos and videos for social media or print use.

• Applications are reviewed as they are received.
• Funding is not guaranteed until a Letter of Funding Approval is issued.
• Projects may be placed on a waitlist depending on funding availability.
• Applicants consent to project inspections and data sharing in aggregate form.