A Rossburn-area couple says a decision to conserve 50 acres of land flows naturally from their organic farming mindset.
“You should be trying to align yourself with nature rather than working against it,” Colin Bialkoski said.
He and his wife, Cheryl, farm organic grains with his parents and their family. In fall 2022, they signed an agreement with Ducks Unlimited Canada to preserve 50 acres of bush and swamp on their land.
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“It’s important to preserve land for wildlife, but you don’t want to take away cultivated land that a person can make a living from,” he said in a March 27 DUC release. “From what I saw, DUC worked best for me.”
About 50 acres of marginal land on the Bialkoski’s farm is now under a conservation easement.
Bialkoski grew up on a mixed farm and previously raised cattle, but the couple has only recently returned to agriculture. They lived in B.C. for seven years before moving back to Manitoba in 2021 with their two young children.
A farm life seemed like a good match for him and his family, he told the Co-operator. Organic farming was also a natural fit.
Bialkoski’s father transitioned his own farm to organic in 2000 because he didn’t like working with chemicals and felt he couldn’t get ahead in conventional farming.
“Overall, it’s worked out really well for him,” Bialkoski said.
He and his wife have been health conscious for many years. Colin previously worked as a fitness instructor and competed in triathlons, while Cheryl entered fitness competitions. He also suffered from gastrointestinal issues for many years, which he now believes were caused by non-organic foods.
“I decided I kind of wanted to make a difference,” he said. “As farmers, we should be concerned about growing food that nourishes people and doesn’t just feed them, and I think that’s an important part of what organic does.”
After returning from B.C., the couple settled on a quarter of land near Bialkoski’s parents. The quarter contains 50 acres that are dotted with marshes and bluffs of trees.
“We love having the birds and seeing the deer. We have no desire to bring a bulldozer in here and plow down the bush and drain the sloughs and make it all ‘productive,’” Bialkoski said in the DUC release. “Trees and grasses help take up moisture from the ground in low-lying areas close to marshes, so the land beside it doesn’t become so saline that you can’t even grow a crop.”
It might be possible to fill in and farm some of the land, he later told the Co-operator, but he doubts it would be worth the expense. Putting the land under a permanent conservation agreement with DUC allowed them to make some money while preserving the property’s natural features.
Under the agreement, they may till and plant some of the land in dry years. They may also use some as pasture. Bialkoski has plans to raise sheep.
“As farmers, we shouldn’t be pushing down every tree that we think is in our way or filling every marsh or slough that’s there, either. There’s purposes for those trees and for those marshes,” he said.
