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Best Management Practices Impacts on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Water Quality: Models, Tools and Markets | |
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| | In 2016 Alberta Agriculture and Forestry contracted Serecon Inc. to review potential Best Management Practices (BMPs) for their environmental impact (GHG emissions and water quality) and the demand for these BMPs from sustainability markets. They were also tasked to review current tools and models for their potential use on Alberta Farmer. The following attachments outlines their findings.
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Considerable progress has been made in recent years, in Canada and worldwide, in quantification of the environmental impacts of activities on the farm. The challenge is to identify the BMPs with the highest cost-effectiveness in terms of GHG and water quality impacts, and focus on measurement that is sensitive to changes that are practical from the farmer’s perspective.
The Growing Forward 2 On-Farm Stewardship Program provided financial support to Alberta farmers implementing projects and management practices that have positive impacts on water quality, while also improving management of inorganic agricultural wastes.
The ultimate objective for this model is to facilitate access for Alberta producers to markets for environmentally sustainable products. The BMP impacts of interest are those within the following specific areas of sustainability:
- GHG emissions: direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions resulting from farm operations (e.g. fuel for machinery, fertilizer application, etc.), land use changes, and in some cases, along the supply chain (e.g. feed production, transport). Carbon sequestration in crops is accounted in this indicator.
- Water quality: presence of nutrients, salts, metals and pathogens in surface water and groundwater
To view the final report, click here. Below are the individual factsheets referred to in the final report.
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For more information about the content of this document, contact Olivia Sieniewicz.
This document is maintained by Laura Thygesen.
This information published to the web on July 17, 2018.
Last Reviewed/Revised on July 18, 2018.
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