Brussels | Reuters — Farmers should get European Union funding to reduce methane emissions from livestock or increase organic farmland, the European Commission said on Thursday, under plans to make agriculture greener. The EU is nearing the end of a two-year battle to overhaul its massive farming subsidies scheme, to attempt to align the agriculture […] Read more
Tag Archives Environment — page 18
EU farmers could get cash to curb emissions from belching livestock
Small farmers called key to fight against climate change
Bayer president says the world’s ‘smallholder’ producers can make a difference by sequestering carbon in their soil
Glacier FarmMedia – The smallest farmers might be the key to successfully using agriculture to fight climate change, Bayer Crop Science President Liam Condon said in a recent presentation. So many millions of “smallholder” farmers have so much improvement possible on their farming that the gains could be huge. Why it matters: Population growth is […] Read more
Environmental Farm Plan update process eased
The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) has made it easier for producers to update their Environmental Farm Plan (EFP). Farms with a third or fourth edition EFP are now eligible to renew through a new, one-day workshop. “Farmers requested an efficient way to update their EFP and take their best management practice learning […] Read more
Harvesting riparian buffers sees little impact to water quality
Science Notes: Harvested vegetation could increase biofuel efforts
Allowing farmers to harvest vegetation from their riparian buffers will not significantly impede the ability of those streamside tracts to protect water quality by capturing nutrients and sediment – and it will boost farmers’ willingness to establish buffers. That is the conclusion of Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences researchers, who compared the impacts of […] Read more
Burnbrae solar farm wins Excellence in Agriculture award
Burnbrae Farms is one of the recipients of the Ontario government’s Excellence in Agriculture awards. The province made the announcement at the start of the recent Ontario Agriculture Week. Burnbrae Farms operates the largest solar-powered egg farm in Canada, operating off the electricity grid. Four barns use high-efficiency motors, lighting and ventilation systems to ensure […] Read more
Editorial: When good policy is foiled by bad additions
Biodiversity provisions are unworkable in clean fuel standards
The increase in demand for biofuels coming from the federal government’s Clean Fuel Standard should be a cause for celebration for farmers, but there’s concerning fine print in the regulations. It can be argued that ethanol policy over the past 20 years has been the most successful farm support program in history. It created a […] Read more
Low-carbon plan aims for premiums
Agriculture companies increasingly see carbon scoring as opportunity
Glacier FarmMedia – What does it take to produce a bushel of grain? How much fertilizer, fuel, chemical and carbon? These are questions a new company — Gro Network — hopes to answer. If things go as planned, farmers who participate in Gro Network’s low-carbon grain scoring program will receive premium pricing for every bushel […] Read more
The economics of cover crops
Ridgetown research highlights profitability gains and losses in grain and vegetable systems
The impact of cover crops on profit margins is a long-contested subject, but new data from the University of Guelph shows some clear winners and losers. Vegetable crop yields, specifically, benefit most – grains not so much, unless farmers get credit for carbon sequestration. Studies showing the economic costs and benefits of cover crops exist, […] Read more
Continually agitated manure system launches in North America
Irish-developed system installed in new Wellington County dairy barn
In an innovative new dairy barn near Moorefield, the centuries-old practice of composting solid manure is being combined with a new-to-North-America approach to continually agitating liquid manure. On May 12, Kristina and Simon Signer moved their 53 Brown Swiss from a tie-stall set-up in the Sigview Farms bank barn to a new composting bedded pack […] Read more
Farm group wants climate at forefront of COVID-19 recovery
Farmers for Climate Solutions says farmers should lead the way in providing solutions
A coalition of farm organizations, including several in Ontario, is calling for a Canada-wide recovery plan from the COVID-19 pandemic that puts a strong emphasis on agricultural resilience to climate change. A report released recently by Farmers for Climate Solutions (FCS) — members of which include the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO), National Farmers […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
