Adopting clean practices and technologies for farm sustainability

May 25, 2017

Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Quebec – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Farmers know the importance of keeping the land, water and air healthy to sustain their farms and livelihoods from one generation of farm family to the next. They also know that a clean environment and a strong economy go hand-in-hand.

Member of Parliament for Brome-Missisquoi, Denis Paradis, announced today, an investment of more than $1.1 million in an Eastern Townships Forest Research Trust’s (ETFRT) project to identify effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on farms, under the Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program (AGGP).

The ETFRT will study the carbon storage capacity of hybrid poplar filter strips and multispecies riparian buffers, and its effects on the ecosystem, and perform knowledge and technology transfer as well. This project will provide farmers with access to cost-effective best management practices for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: AAFC

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.