Farmers Still Planting Shelterbelts

Apr 19, 2021

The Stanley Soil Management Association held its AGM last week.

Richard Warkentin is a technician with the organization.

"What we've done a lot in the past few years and what still is our bread and butter is our shelterbelt planting and maintenance program. In 2013, the PFRA (Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration) disbanded and they closed down their tree nursery at Indian Head and so we decided to fill in the gap a bit. You can order seedling trees from us."

He says in the 80's they planted roughly 60 miles of shelterbelts in a year, and now they plant about six.

"It's nowhere near what it used to be. There are still the forward thinking farmers that are still planting shelterbelts," he said. "It isn't certainly as many shelterbelts but there's still planting happening. Our area has actually expanded quite a bit too."

Warkentin talked about the benefits of shelterbelts.

"You have more soil protection. You have a barrier to the wind, plus there's all kinds of aspects of more pollinators in the shelterbelts. There's been lots of studies to indicate you can actually increase your yield, depending on the year."

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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.