What would be the best economic use for 50 acres of wetland agriculturally?

Question

I have about 50 acres of wetland in Eastern Ontario (between Toronto and Ottawa). I thought about cranberry cultivation but it seems that this is cost prohibitive and the soil/water is not acidic enough. The land is not conservation land and is ripe for agricultural uses (if I could find a use). I thought about dredging a part of it, (it's on a lake)but this too would be cost prohibitive.

Answer 1

Have you talked to the local Department of Agriculture staff in that area?  Where I live, wetlands are not great for intensive agriculture and are pretty sensitive in fact eg. to grazing stock impact etc, let alone cultivation of some sort.  Maybe you can grow things there, but I would investigate very carefully first.  Also, maybe there are native vegetation, threatened species or wetland area legislation rules that will restrict land use.  If it is wetland area, it might be intermittently inundated, depending on topography and drainage, and this could be a consideration.  Also, I guess things get pretty cold up there in winter and that would be a consideration.  Maybe you would have more luck with eco-tourism as a land use if agriculture is not a goer?  Good luck.

Answer 2

You can get the backhoe in there if you divert whichever streams are feeding the wetland (assuming it's not a tidal wetland).

Answer 3

You said that this is not conservation land. Is there any chance in getting it in a wetlands conservation program? In the US this would be your best option as we are trying to conserve any existing wetlands. I don't know much about the conservation program in Canada but what I have read looks promising for land like yours.

http://www.ramsar.org/wurc/wurc_policy_c...

Answer 4

Your land sounds like a natural candidate for wild rice production. Canadian wild rice is usually harvested from natural bodies of water; the province of Saskatchewan is the largest producer in Canada. Northern wild rice (Zizania palustris) is an annual plant native to the Great Lakes region of North America and northward into Canada. It is grown almost always in standing water and can adapt to water of various depths. You may even be able to extend your growing area into the lake that keeps your land flooded. After getting it planted, it will reseed itself to keep producing for years.

Answer 5

If it is a wetland it should be acidic enough for cranberry. The problem is that conversion can be a bit difficult. You would have to strip all the vegetation from the surface (area to be planted), sand it, then plant cuttings. Surface stripping the wet areas can be done a bit every year with a small bulldozer and the material can be used for levee constuction and road access to your area. It is possible depending on the type of growth to just cover and plant but that would need more info to evaluate that. Cuttings of cranberry are easy enough to get by finding other bogs that are thinning out their plants but you need to be prepped and ready to plant while the cutting are viable. They store moist in a cooler. That is a start. If you plan to go organic it can be a bit problematic to start but all depends on where you are in relation to other bogs. If you go chemical/ conventional, know that cranberries are one of the most intensive chemical using crops and you will need some way to contain contaminated water for the short time it takes for the materials to degrade. Heavy cold areas and deep snows might necessitate flooding before winter but that is also a big plus for harvesting and on the sanding that really helps the growth when done on occation. You could do some fish culture in your storage ponds and for the organic grower that is a plus giving you the minimal nitrogen the plants require.

Wild rice varieties are a very possibility for your area as it is too cold and too short a season for other rice (Oryza). Varieties (Zizania palustris), and (Z. aquatica) would do well and you could even incorporate fish. Fun thing about fish is that you can go fairly intensive or not, harvest or stock for recreation (at a cost of course).

Answer 6

lease it for people to hunt on.

Answer 7

geee i dunno , i think its too dry to do anything there lol jks

um i dont know much about rice , but maybe rice , if ur in a wet lands, or crocodile farming is another good one , but i dont know much bout that neither

just thought i would try anyways