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.

• Exploring alternative grazing sources that can support cattle in hot, dry summer months (15 acres) - Joshua Bye, Meaford
• Creating apple guilds, which are considered a more disease-resistant, higher yield production method (0.5 - 1 acre) - Dr. Cristina Allen, Meaford 
• Late-summer seeding hay to maintain living roots and increase soil health (20 acres) - Wade Deaken, Appinbrook Farm, West Grey
• Overseeding turnip to extend fall grazing (up to 230 acres) - Peter Kotzeff, West Grey
• Using pastured poultry to increase soil fertility (0.25 acre) - Gillian Griffin, Flora Grey, Chatsworth
• Trying different mulching practices around fruit trees (1 acre) - Anthony Rabideau, Southgate

For more information, check out the 2025 Project Summaries. 

• 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
• Grazing chickens resting market garden land that is planted with cover crops – Cory Eichman, Saugeen River CSA
• Rotational grazing for bison on annual cover, to fit into rotation with vegetable production – Eric & Stephanie Mayne, Fortitude Bison
• Intercropping corn silage with annual ryegrass and berseem clover – Jamie Farrell, Hi Hope Holsteins
• Multi-species rotational grazing – Adam and Callee, The Middle Farm

For more details about past projects, check out the 2023 Project Outlines or 2024 Project Outcomes Report. 

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.