The Municipality of Rhineland wants to see farmers plant more shelterbelts.

"We just adopted a policy that would establish a shelterbelt program," explained Reeve Don Wiebe. "This came up at our strategic planning meeting last year and so we took some time this year and managed to get some money into the budget for it. We have a small budgeted amount for this program and we looked at our neighbouring municipalities and they were doing something like this, so we thought this might be really good practice for us. Particularly, after the dry year, where we had so much soil blowing and shelterbelts also help with capturing snow and other benefits."

Wiebe says shelterbelts also help with carbon sequestration.

Council has budgeted $5,000 for the incentive program this year. 

Approved applications will receive up to $1,500 over a 3-year period, about $500 per half-mile a year. 

Those interested can apply at the Municipality of Rhineland office.