Reading Time: 3 minutes Dan Sych and his family are doing something a little different — practising rotational grazing with bison. But it’s no big deal, even though his livestock are formidable beasts, says the Hay Lakes producer. “So much of it has to do with what everyone’s interpretation of what rotational grazing means to them,” he said. “We […] Read more
They’re big but not bad: Bison herd fits with rotational grazing
Regenerative agriculture is all the rage, but what is it exactly?
There’s no simple answer, but experts say soil health is at the heart of this approach
Reading Time: 4 minutes It seems as though everyone is talking about regenerative agriculture these days. But nailing down exactly what it is can be a challenge. “I completely agree that there are a lot of issues with being able to define what regenerative agriculture is,” said Kris Nichols, a Calgary soil microbiologist and well-known expert on soil health. […] Read more
McDonald’s and McCain support regen ag potatoes
McCain pledges to implement the practice on 100 per cent of acreage by 2030
Reading Time: < 1 minute McDonald’s Canada and McCain Foods Limited have announced the Future of Potato Farming Fund, a joint initiative that will offer $1 million to support the implementation of regenerative agricultural practices and technology by Canadian potato growers. The fund will be open to more than 130 farmers with more than 76,000 acres of potato farmland, and […] Read more
McCain acquires predictive crop technology
McCain Foods Ltd. has purchased predictive crop intelligence technology from Resson, a ‘vision intelligence technology’ firm headquartered in Fredericton, N.B. McCain has been a long-time partner with Resson, working together for nine years to develop algorithms that forecast farm yields using remote sensing technology. The technology will enable producers to make more appropriate decisions through […] Read more
Learning from McCain’s regenerative farming practices
Potato processing giant aims to 'de-risk' practices for growers
In 2021 McCain said it was going to launch three regenerative potato farming operations by 2025 and would label them “Farms of the Future.” The first, just outside of Florenceville-Bristol, N.B., now offers data to reflect on the effectiveness of the practices at the potato farm after its first fully operational season. “If we don’t […] Read more
STRONG STEWARDS: Women ‘a driving force’ in conservation efforts
Stewardship isn’t gender specific but female farmers are often champions of sustainable practices
Reading Time: 5 minutes Elaine Bellamy has known from the time she was a small girl — there’s something special about the land at Will Farms. “When I was a five-year-old girl, I decided to take a spoon outside and have a taste of the dirt,” the Rosebud-area farmer recalled with a laugh. “Apparently, I thought it was pretty good, […] Read more
Female farmers lead regenerative farming efforts globally
Most small-scale farmers are women, and they focus on healthy soil, water, and ecosystems, says author
Reading Time: 2 minutes [UPDATED: April 5, 2022] Many female farmers here are champions of sustainable farming, but their global counterparts have long been feeding the world using these management practices. “From my work as a writer, I’d argue that women farmers were already prioritizing sustainable agriculture practices long before this recent shift towards ‘regenerative agriculture,’” said Trina Moyles, […] Read more
Schoepp: Pitting one farming practice against another benefits no one
Dismissing regenerative agriculture — or synthetic fertilizer — out of hand is not the way forward
Reading Time: 3 minutes The use of synthetic nitrogen is being debated around the world by farmers and scientists. Stirring the discussion further last month was an opinion piece titled “Nutrient Claims are Crap” written by Jaqueline Rowarth in a New Zealand publication called Rural News. In it, the agrologist took a run at regenerative agriculture, describing it as […] Read more
Revamping carbon credits could boost regenerative agriculture
Alberta organization says paying producers for actual carbon stored would boost soil health practices
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – A carbon offset program could boost adoption of regenerative farming but it can’t use cookie-cutter protocols, says the head of an Alberta organization that promotes the practice. “To try to standardize something that is fundamentally adaptive and site specific, and also based on a lot of innovation, it’s going to put a […] Read more
Walmart stakes big claim on Canadian sustainable beef
Retailer pledges to take over 680 tonnes in 2022
The Canadian arm of the world’s biggest retailer has put a number to its previous commitment to source certified-sustainable beef for its grocery business. Walmart Canada on Thursday announced it has committed to buy 1.5 million pounds of beef sourced from farms and ranches certified to Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) standards over the […] Read more
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