Farmers play an important role in managing and protecting much of Canada’s land and green spaces. We often refer to them as stewards of the land for that reason.
One of the key elements of environmental stewardship focuses on maintaining or improving the quality of soil, water, air and biodiversity of the land. Biodiversity refers to the number of different species and ecosystems within a region and is an indicator of environmental health. Farmers and ranchers help protect the biodiversity of their land by maintaining the water, soil and grasslands so that native plants, insects, birds and other wildlife can thrive alongside agriculture production.
The Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) program helps farmers and ranchers be more environmentally responsible by identifying their farms’ environmental strengths and weaknesses and making action plans for improvements. Funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the EFP program is a joint federal-provincial-territorial initiative that aims to help farmers learn how to reduce agriculture’s impact on the environment.
The EFP program offers a free, voluntary self-assessment tool that farmers can complete online. After doing so, they can apply for funding to implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) that will reduce their operations’ stress on the environment. BMPs are specific farming practices that make farmers and ranchers more environmentally sustainable – and more efficient too.
More and more farmers and ranchers are developing Environmental Farm Plans. To date, 70% of dairy farmers in Canada have implemented EFPs.
Here’s just a few of the Best Management Practices that farmers are following:
Conservation tillage – Tillage refers to turning over the soil to prepare it for planting crops. Conservation tillage is a seed planting technique that minimizes the disruption of soil. Farmers use special equipment to plant seeds, leaving most of the residues of the previous crop intact to hold soil in place and add organic matter and nutrients to the soil. Because the soil is covered with plant material, this method also helps prevent soil erosion and conserves moisture.
In Canada, zero till (a type of conservation tillage) is used to prepare 56% of land area for seeding. In Saskatchewan, 74% of cropland is prepared using zero till.
Reducing pesticide usage – Global Positioning Systems (GPS) on tractors and equipment allow farmers to target specific areas of a field that need pesticide treatment rather than treating the whole field. It also means that farmers have to make fewer passes through fields to apply pesticides and this reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Many farmers are also using Integrated Pest Management that utilizes a broad range of techniques to mange and prevent pests, relying on pesticides only as a last resort.
Protecting waterways – Farmers plant buffer zones (strips of grass between fields and water) to catch run-off water from fields so that fertilizers and pesticides don’t end up in waterways. They also build fences around streams or ponds to keep livestock and livestock waste out of the water.
Learn more about sustainable beef production in our Podcast: Are cattle raised sustainably and humanely?
Our ability to be able to produce food into the future depends on wise management of our natural resources. And producers’ livelihoods depend on it too. This connection between farming and the land means that farmers and ranchers have an undeniable responsibility to do whatever they can to take care of it. This means adopting new technologies and BMPS as they are discovered to advance stewardship and food production in Canada – for the benefit of us all.
Farmers work hard to provide for their families, care for the animals they raise and grow food safely and efficiently. The decisions they make daily influence their ability to produce nutritious and high-quality food in a sustainable, responsible way that ensures future generations can continue to farm. Canadian agriculture has created sustainability and farm stewardship initiatives to guide production and management practices in almost every sector.
Encouraging Responsible Use Of Pesticides: Pesticide Applicator Licence