| | “Many of the management practices that look after the producer and look after the soils and forages, also look after the greenhouse gases, and producers may already be doing a good job right now,” says Patricia Walker. “So we’re trying to make producers aware of how they are doing that, as well as how they could perhaps do it better, for their benefit and for the environmental benefits.”
Walker is working with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) on one part of the $21-million Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture. This federal program, operating from 2001-02 to 2005-06, has allocated $15.3 million to raise awareness and promote adoption of agricultural practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon storage. The CCA, Canadian Pork Council, the Dairy Farmers of Canada and Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) are leading this awareness effort. They are working with producer groups and others to deliver extension activities across the country.
Beef and the bottom-line
The CCA is delivering the program’s beef sector component. Walker says one of the main ways to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions from beef production is by improving production efficiency. So the projects involve practices that are good for the bottom-line. She gives two examples:
- Training in balancing rations: “Emissions from the beef sector could be reduced in the range of 15 to 30% by balancing rations, because so many production efficiencies come out of that…[giving] you more beef per unit of input. So the emissions per input are generally reduced.” She adds, “The producers [at the training sessions] found it interesting to see, in many cases, how much money they were wasting because they were either overfeeding or didn’t have the right balance of minerals, vitamins or whatever so the feed wasn’t being used as efficiently.”
- Demonstrating grazing of alfalfa stands: About 80 sites in the four western provinces are demonstrating alfalfa grazing and the use of Alfasure. This product, developed by Dr. Merle Olson of the University of Calgary, allows cattle to eat a diet rich in alfalfa without the danger of bloating. Several factors in this project reduce net emissions per pound of beef produced. Alfalfa, as a perennial crop, is better than annual crops at storing carbon. Also, cattle eating this high quality forage produce less methane per pound of feed eaten, and the increased rates of gain achievable on alfalfa rations mean cattle take less time to reach market weight.
Dollars and sense for crop producers
For crop producers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions makes great agronomic and economic sense, explains Peter Gamache of Reduced Tillage LINKAGES (RTL). RTL is working with SCCC on the soils and nutrient management component of the program in Alberta.
Gamache says, “It makes good sense to enhance carbon storage because of the economic advantage in terms of better soil quality and better nutrient cycling because we are sequestering carbon, that is, building our organic matter.” Practices like direct seeding and crop rotations that include forages and pulses increase soil carbon.
He adds, “The same can be said for nitrous oxide. As we become more efficient in utilizing the nitrogen we apply, less is lost to the atmosphere and more goes to crop production. So practices like applying nitrogen at seeding time and banding will reduce nitrous oxide losses and put more money in our pocket.”
Under this program, RTL has four major demonstration sites across Alberta where its agronomists have a variety of projects, including some in partnership with other agencies. As well, each of the five agronomists is running demonstration projects on local farms. Projects include such topics as direct seeding dos and don’ts, rotation options, liquid hog manure injection, and equipment demonstrations.
For more information, call Patricia Walker at 403-601-8991 or Peter Gamache at 780-422-7922.
Methane from cattle: the true story
Walker would like to set the record straight concerning those jokes about cattle and methane. “The methane from a cow is not mainly burps and it’s not mainly from the other end. Methane is generated in the rumen because that’s an anaerobic fermentation vat where the feed is being fermented. Some bacteria in the rumen produce methane as a by-product. That methane is absorbed into the bloodstream, goes through the bloodstream into the lungs, and then is exhaled. That’s where the bulk of the methane comes from. So we can put to bed the myth that cows are incredibly rude burping, farting creatures!” |
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