Some Alberta farmers to receive compensation from the City of Red Deer

Jan 16, 2018

Red Deer may have to spread treated human waste on cropland

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

The City of Red Deer is going to pay some Central Alberta farmers not to produce crops on some land this growing season.

The sewage levels in six storage lagoons – which span the size of about six football fields – are rising. To prevent an overflow, the City is looking to spread treated human waste on some fields.

On Monday, City council approved a budget of $1 million over two years to compensate farmers for taking their land out of crop rotation to accommodate the solid wastes, which contain soil nutrients.

Some farmers could benefit from the waste program, according to Ken Johnston, a member of Red Deer city council.

“We’d be paying for a field to be out of production,” he told Farms.com today. “That can work for many farmers depending on the scale of their operations.”

Spreading treated waste on farmers’ fields isn’t a new practice but one that needs to be done to prevent lagoon levels from getting too high.

This practice “has occurred in one form or another for about 25 years,” Johnston said. “We find ourselves in a situation where weather conditions have conspired against us and that’s what caused the backup (in the lagoons). We’re not in a critical stage, but we’ve been told we need to take action.”

The program is voluntary, and the City will contract the deliveries with an independent trucking company.

Any farmers interested in participating can contact the City of Red Deer for more information.

Not all councillors were in favour of the decision, as some individuals questioned why farmers should be paid for a product that’s good for their land, according to the Red Deer Advocate.

And Alberta Environment must issue permits for spreading waste, said Michael Dawe, a councillor who sat on the regional waste water commission, according to the Red Deer Advocate.

Top photo: Ken Johnston

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.