| | In recent years, many high quality research and extension efforts have made valuable progress in agricultural nutrient management. Now the Alberta Nutrient Management Strategy is taking another key step to close the gap between theory and practice.
Brent Paterson, who is a member of the strategy’s industry-government steering committee, explains. “Producers are saying to us, ‘It’s not enough to give me a list of 40 or 50 nutrient management practices that I might be able to apply. I need to know what will work on my farm, what kind of costs to expect, and where I’ll get the best bang for the buck. Give me something specific and I’m prepared to invest some of my own time and money to make it happen.’”
Paterson says the strategy aims to fill that gap between proven technologies and farmspecific adaptation through an innovative partnership between technical experts and Alberta producers. The strategy will test, monitor, demonstrate and assess nutrient management practices on real farms in selected watersheds. Then it will identify those practices that are most cost-effective, most practical and provide the greatest water quality benefits.
Improving the management of nutrients and especially of manure is vital to safeguarding water quality. “We have recognized for some time that we need a much more integrated, holistic approach to nutrient management. So we will be looking at options in every part of the farm nutrient cycle – perhaps growing crops with different nutrient balances so livestock can take up the nutrients more effectively, or changing feed rations so the manure has lower nutrient levels or a better balance of nutrients, or modifying manure application practices to minimize losses to water bodies,” says Paterson of Alberta
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.
To ensure this integrated approach, the strategy is bringing together multidisciplinary teams of experts like cropping geneticists, economists, livestock nutritionists, soil specialists, water specialists and engineers. “We’ve already had discussions with many of the experts, and there’s a keen interest to be part of the initiative,” notes Paterson.
He says, “Another important aspect is that we’re working at the watershed level. Typically researchers conduct studies on individual fields or parts of fields. Given all the other potential impacts on water quality in a watershed, you really need to look at it as a whole and to monitor water quality as the water moves through the watershed.”
The initiative is selecting several small watersheds where the producers are willing to work closely with an expert team. Trevor Wallace of AAFRD in Red Deer is the Project leader for this team. Wallace says, “In our discussions so far, we’ve had very strong support from the producers. We’re very impressed with the leadership shown by producers, wanting to be the best environmental stewards that they can be on their land.”
Each expert team will collect baseline data on a specific watershed, identify possible solutions to issues in the watershed, discuss options with the producers, work with them to implement change, assess the results, and come up with recommendations on what works best.
Over the next three to five years, the producers and expert teams will plan, implement and evaluate the practices. During that time, there will be ongoing discussions and demonstrations to share results with producers, producer organizations and others.
“The strategy comes at an ideal time to link with several other initiatives,” notes Wallace. For instance, the cooperating producers could take part in the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan program to develop plans to enhance environmental stewardship on their land. Computer software recently adapted for Alberta will help the producers and expert teams to create sound manure managementplans (see “New Software for Manure Management” on next page). And the federal-provincial Agriculture Policy Framework program could provide funding to help the producers apply some of the identified beneficial management practices.
Wallace believes the strategy has the potential to accelerate adoption of nutrient management practices in Alberta. He adds, “In my mind we will have succeeded only when we are able to show that there are truly practical solutions for improved nutrient management and that the agriculture industry can develop in a sustainable way. I think this initiative is going to take us a long way to proving that.”
For more information, contact Brent Paterson (403-381-5143; brent.paterson@gov.ab.ca) or Trevor Wallace (403-422-7922; trevor.wallace@gov.ab.ca) |
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