| | At an AESA-sponsored forum in 2000, Alberta producers requested an on-farm tool so they could assess the effects of their own practices on greenhouse gas emissions. “Their argument was that they can’t manage what they can’t measure,” explains Jilene Sauvé. Sauvé is a Climate Change Specialist with Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. She’s well aware of the difficulties in accurately measuring the fluctuations in net greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level. Emissions can vary greatly even over short distances and short time periods, due to differences in such factors as moisture, temperature and agricultural practices.
Creating a research road map
So, as a first step in responding to the producers’ request, Sauvé and other researchers developed a science plan for farm-level greenhouse gas assessment in 2003. Based on input from scientists across Canada, the plan outlines current knowledge on this issue, and prioritizes gaps in that knowledge.
Then in June 2004, researchers, policy specialists, producers and representatives from research funding agencies met to work on the next step. They laid the groundwork to develop a “road map” on how to fill the knowledge gaps.
Sauvé explains, “We have created a list of agricultural practices with the most potential to reduce emissions. Under each practice is a list of gaps that we feel need further research so we can recommend them as beneficial management practices.” With this information, funding agencies can request proposals from researchers for studies targeting those specific gaps. Such research could make invaluable contributions toward assessing and reducing emissions.
Many of the identified practices have other benefits like increasing production efficiency, protecting water quality and enhancing soil quality. “It’s really raising the awareness that we don’t want just greenhouse gas research; we want environmentally sustainable agriculture research. Looking at greenhouse gases is just another way of looking at sustainability,” notes Sauvé.
On-line calculator coming soon
But what about the producers’ need for farm-level greenhouse gas assessments? Well, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is working on that right now in its Model Farm Program.
The program, which has been underway for about four years, has a multidisciplinary team of about 30 researchers. They are measuring emissions from farming systems across Canada and using the collected data to develop computer models. By taking into account management practices, climate and soils, the models will be able to estimate a farm’s current emissions, evaluate the effects of alternative practices including their economic feasibility, and identify sets of practices to reduce net emissions.
The researchers are developing two main modelling products. One is the Virtual Farm, a sophisticated, leading-edge computer model for use by scientists. The other is the greenhouse gas calculator, a simpler version for estimating emissions from commercial farms.
“The calculator will be on the Internet, available to anyone—whether it be a policy maker, scientist or producer—who has an interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from a farm,” notes AAFC’s Bobbi Helgason. AAFC expects to have a functioning prototype calculator within a few months.
Both modelling products take a whole farm approach. Helgason says, “Rather than looking at emissions from one source at a time, we want to follow nutrient flows across the whole farm so we have a better idea about how changing practices might affect net emissions across the entire farm landscape.”
She adds, “One example I often use is the planting of alfalfa. We know that planting perennial legumes can increase carbon storage in our soils. However, we need to keep in mind that … those legumes will be fed to cattle, which will increase production of enteric methane [in the digestive system of cattle]. Some of those nutrients will be excreted in manure, and how we handle that manure will also affect greenhouse gas emissions.”
Like Sauvé, Helgason puts her work in a broader context. “In our development of this model, we are trying to provide a framework for describing farms across Canada. We hope this framework will help us to better understand carbon and nitrogen flows through agricultural ecosystems. …So the Model Farm Program really is a long-term effort aimed not only at evaluating greenhouse gas emissions but also at other important environmental issues.” |
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