Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Ottawa is making $12 million available to help find ways to reduce methane emissions from cow-calf, dairy and feedlot operations. The Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge is part of the federal government’s plan to reduce overall methane emissions 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and to be net-zero by […] Read more
Ottawa sets challenge for cattle methane emissions
Ottawa announces Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge and $12 million in funding
Global temperature records shattered
The data demonstrates a clear and undeniable climate trend line
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s time to talk about record-breaking temperatures. Not daily records, not records for a city or a country, but global temperature records. You may have read an article or two about how September shattered the global record for warmest month. August was also the warmest on record, globally speaking. It looks like 2023 will be […] Read more
Brazil needs mandatory cattle tracking
Reading Time: < 1 minute Brazil needs a mandatory government program to track cattle being raised for beef to prevent deforestation, says the head of the world’s largest meat company, Brazil’s JBS SA. Cattle ranching, along with clearing land to sell timber or grow crops, is driving deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The destruction of rainforests, which serve as carbon […] Read more
Second agronomy cluster to receive funds
The Integrated Crop Agronomy Cluster will be publicly backed for another five years
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Integrated Crop Agronomy Cluster will receive more than $7.6 million for its second phase. Funding, which comes from sources including the Western Grains Research Foundation, the Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership and industry partners, will cover a five-year period between April 2023 and March 2028. Projects will tackle everyday agronomic problems faced by farmers, as […] Read more
Opinion: Cropping with wonky weather
Farmers should have incentives to prepare, such as increasing organic matter
Reading Time: 3 minutes A farmer friend challenged me about what he considered alarming statements related to climate change. He sighed and said “a temperature bump of 1.5 C probably won’t bother me.” There is a difference between climate and weather. For example, the climate in July 2023 was 1.5 C higher on average than pre-industrial (before 1850) average […] Read more
Cautious carbon optimism
While carbon offsets could be a boon for producers, experts warn the market is a volatile space with many risks to consider
Reading Time: 5 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – The message may go something like this: farmers live in a carbon-priced world and it’s time they started making that a positive, not a negative. Sign this contract, plant a cover crop and, based on the resulting carbon offsets, make a little money off some corporation’s environmental goals. But the landscape around […] Read more
Heat waves: sunshine and sinking air
Temperatures above 30 C have cropped up a lot this year, but what makes up an official heat wave?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Let’s continue our look at severe summer weather by examining heat waves. While we have seen recent hot weather, it pales in comparison to some of the extreme heat reported in other parts of our planet this July. Heat waves have enveloped large portions of the Northern Hemisphere, bringing record-breaking heat to […] Read more
Low emitting cow-calf farms move in step with profitability
The variability of the cow-calf sector means there are many levers to pull to increase financial, environmental sustainability, says researcher
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – A study benchmarking cow-calf profitability against greenhouse gas intensity suggests profitable farms tend to have lower emissions, but there’s a lot of room to work on both sides of the equation. “There’s a lot that we can do to provide support to producers who are willing to try things … and I […] Read more
Temporary livestock water assistance available
Reading Time: < 1 minute Livestock and poultry producers impacted by water shortage and drought conditions can receive streamlined temporary livestock water assistance through Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (EPA). Producers who have an urgent need for water should contact EPA for support to identify alternative water sources and receive authorization for use under the Water Act. A fact sheet […] Read more
Creating a canola-based plastic alternative
New research turns canola protein into strong, flexible films meant for food packaging
Reading Time: 4 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Canola growers may one day be able to add food packaging to their list of markets. New research at the University of Manitoba draws on canola meal protein as a feedstock for biodegradable food product packaging. “I think it’s a more sustainable solution to the challenges created by all the petroleum-based plastic […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
