Whether it’s dry and hot or cold and wet, there’s that farm down the road where the fields and grazing lands always seem to be in better shape than others.
What’s their secret?
It may be that they are focusing on practices that create tougher, more resilient lands, guided by principles that build soil health.
Soil health-building Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) include low emissions, high-resilience practices such as cover cropping, improved nitrogen management and rotational grazing. But which ones really deliver?
Through a deep analysis of scientific literature and producer experience, Farmers for Climate Solutions (FCS) identified the BMPs that are most practical and achievable in the short term on farms and ranches across Canada, that build resilience and improve bottom lines. Three years ago, FCS created the Farm-Resilience-Mentorship (FaRM) Program, which includes producer-led learning and networking events from coast to coast as well as a free Learning Hub where farmers and ranchers can access resources that help them build knowledge on BMPs that reduce input costs, boost productivity and profitability and improve soil health.
“There are a lot of regional differences in how we farm across Canada,” said Rosalie Gillis-Madden, a professional agrologist, Certified Crop Advisor and a manager of the FaRM Program. “We work with producers, content developers, and experts across the country to bring regional knowledge to our online curriculum.
Read Also
Robert’s Equipment
Robert’s Equipment is a trusted, family-owned dealership proudly serving Ontario’s agricultural, residential and commercial sectors since 1968. With locations in…
“We’ve recently revised and updated our online courses to make them more regionally applicable, digestible, and practical. Even if you’ve checked out farmlearninghub.ca in the past, it’s worth checking out what’s new.”
In addition to delivering online learning resources, the FaRM Program helps farmers and ranchers connect with local farmer and rancher mentors and works with regional partners across the country to deliver in-person and virtual training (such as field days, workshops, and conferences).
Over the last three years, FaRM and its partners have hosted learning and networking events and provided resources on BMP implementation to over 16,000 Canadian producers, representing an estimated 8-12 million acres.
“Clearly, there’s a lot of interest in these practices,” Gillis-Madden said.
Just ask Norm Lamothe.
“We’ve tried a lot of BMPs here on the farm,” said Lamothe, who operates Woodleigh Farms, a sixth-generation family farm located in Cavan, Ontario.
Lamothe is a FaRM mentor, offering his personal knowledge and experience to provide answers and advice to farmers for free, as they plan and implement actions for their own operations.
“We host a couple of field days every year,” he said. “Our neighbors come and see what we’re doing. At first, there was some skepticism but they’re starting to recognize that maybe I’m not totally crazy.”
The first step at Woodleigh Farms was to change their crop rotation. Lamothe advises anyone interested in implementing BMPs to start small.
“If you’re in a two-crop rotation, add a cereal. By adding a cereal, you’ve broken a little bit of that disease and pest cycle that a corn and soybean rotation might have,” he said. “Having a cereal also allows you to have a cover crop in your rotation, giving you a chance to experiment with that.”
Each operation has unique opportunities and challenges, which is why being part of FaRM can be beneficial; farmers can learn from each other, connecting with their peers and local experts to come up with practical solutions.
For Lamothe, the benefits outweigh the challenges.
“In dry years, any areas with a cover crop retain a lot more moisture,” he said. “And we’re seeing less need for nutrients to grow the same amount of crop than we did in the past and that’s strictly from building organic matter over the 10 years since we began all these practices.”
Garry Richards and his wife Lynn operate Richards Family Farm and Livestock Ltd. in Bangor, Saskatchewan, where they have been working together for the past 25 years, incorporating multiple BMPs to improve their farm’s resilience. Garry is also a FaRM mentor.
“[This used to be] a straight grain farm,” Richards said. “Then we bought a few cows and realized those cows could be quite useful. We started to transition more acres.”
Those cows allowed him to close the nutrient loop so he wasn’t simply buying fertilizer to grow a grain crop that would then be exported off the land. Instead, he was creating a sustainable cycle on his farm, of which those cows were an important part.
When Richards first contemplated introducing cover crops, he needed to prove to himself that it could work on his land. He conducted a trial with the goal of increasing soil organic matter by one per cent over five years. He met that goal and has continued to improve his soil health in other ways since.
“I’ve increased the organic matter of my soil and water infiltrates better. If we have a drought or flood or it’s horribly hot or unbearably cold, I have much more resilience built into my farm because of the BMPs we’ve implemented.”
The transition wasn’t always easy. Richards had to overcome many challenges along the way. The biggest one was the steep learning curve.
Gillis-Madden says that is true across the country. Amongst the challenges farmers list when they’re considering BMPs are shortages of time, money, labour, and, critically, knowledge.
“That’s where FaRM comes in,” she said. Ninety-two per cent of producers who have participated in FaRM indicated they were either adopting a BMP for the first time, expanding acreage, or scaling up an existing practice. “We support farmers in building their knowledge, not only on the ‘why’ [of implementing BMPs] but also on the ‘how.’”
Richards believes the keys to success include being open-minded, doing your homework, attending conferences, and finding a mentor.
“For me, that was huge. Whether it was grazing or soil health or the business side of things, I’ve been blessed with good mentors who had experience and expertise,” he said. “A lot of useful information comes from farmers who have successfully implemented these practices. A mentor can save you a lot of money and set you up for success.”
