GrainsWest Summer 2018

The Food Issue 2018 Grains West 44 FEATURE OR FARMERS, sustainability is the foundation of the future. As Albertans be- come more interested in where our food comes from and how it is grown, we naturally want to know how farms meas- ure up in the use of sustainable growing practices. It may come as a surprise that in many ways the province’s farmers are leaders in developing and adopting farm practices that not only protect environ- mental values, but support economic viability and social responsibility. “Sustainability is one of the most im- portant things in farming, if not the most important. If your farm isn’t sustainable, what are you doing for the next genera- tion?” said Kevin Auch, who farms grains and oilseeds near Carmangay. Prairie farmers have a long history of innovation and of adopting practices that protect these critical resources, the most significant being no-till systems pioneered in Alberta in the 1980s. Most Alberta farmers use this crop-growing system, which does not turn the soil as was once common practice, leaving it relatively undisturbed. “Tillage is not good for soils—you lose organic matter and the ability to retain moisture, and increase the loss of topsoil to erosion,” said Auch, an enthusiastic proponent of no-till. “We are seques- tering substantially more carbon in the soil by practising no-till than what we are using to produce our crops.” Adoption of no-till was driven by farm- ers looking for ways to protect their soil from wind and water erosion. It quickly proved itself by increasing crop yields, reducing labour and improving mois- ture retention. By the early 1990s, it had become the dominant cropping system across the Prairies and continues to be adopted around the world. No-till has become one of the cor- nerstones of conservation agriculture, which combines minimal soil distur- bance with the use of mulch soil covers and crop rotation in conjunction with other positive practices, including the use of quality seeds and integrated management of pests, nutrients, weeds and water. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations calls conservation agriculture the “new par- adigm for agriculture in the 21st century.” The sustainability discussion has an im- portant global component to it. In Can- ada, only two per cent of the population BY TAMARA LEIGH • PHOTO BY GEORGE CLAYTON Alberta farmers ahead on sustainability AGRICULTURE TAKES ACTION is actively involved in food production, while globally, farmers account for a third of the population and half of its poor. Farmers and consumers may be aware of this disparity, but few feel like they un- derstand how to address it. That’s where international perspectives on sustainabili- ty are particularly important. In 2016, the United Nations created its Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 goals and 169 targets to guide its policy making on development issues through 2030. Second on the list of goals is achieving zero hunger. Target 2.4 of this section sets out the econom- ic, social and environmental parameters of sustainable agriculture. “For Canadian agriculture, the power of some of these global discussions is in getting some agreement on what we mean when we talk about sustainability,” said Robynne Anderson, president of Emerging Ag Inc. and an international expert on agricultural and food policy. “If we have clear goals, it’s more possible for Canadian agriculture to measure what they are doing, hone in and take action.” According to Anderson, Canadian agriculture stands to do well on meeting targets under the economic dimension, F