GrainsWest Winter 2020

Winter 2020 Grains West 24 Dianne Westerlund grew up in the Special Areas and knows the challenges of the region’s wide-open spaces. “There is some isolation. We accept that if we want our kids to participate in sports or cultural activities, there will be windshield time.” In her role as CARA manager and forage agronomist, she looks for ways to improve yields on the problem soils of prairie grasslands that typically receive light precipitation. “If you look at a soil capability map, most of our land is class three, four or five. I don’t know if we have any class-one land,” said Westerlund. “This isn’t next-year country, but last year’s country,” she said. “If in 2019 you are overgrazing and it is compounded by dry conditions, next year, even with great conditions, [the land] may not be able to recover.” Encouraging crop rotation, reduced tillage and better soil quality has helped farmers capture moisture more efficiently. Crop and soil health management specialist Yamily Zavala is CARA’s Soil Health Lab manager. Assisting farmers in improving the soil, she studies the stuff with the intensity of a teenager playing Fortnite . Having worked in Venezuela and West Africa, she knew it was important to have her own laboratory, as sending samples out for testing is costly. Located adjacent to the main CARA facility, the lab opened in 2018. Here, Zavala studies soils from around the province, but she is particularly excited about solving agronomic problems in the Special Areas. “The soil [here] has low organic matter,” she said. “Will this area sequester more carbon than others? We don’t know, but it would be interesting to know.” What she’s certain of is, “healthy soil will capture more water and that will help with any drought.” Zavala’s research is carried out in partnership with local farmers and ranchers. In one instance, a farmer with a soil compaction problem invited Zavala to plant an experimental mix of plant species to test its effectiveness as a remedy. FEATURE CARA assists Special Areas farmers and ranchers in coping with challenging soils andmoisture conditions. CARA’s Soil Health Labmanager Yamily Zavala emphasizes the region’s challenging soils can be quite productive with goodmanagement.