Better Farming - January 2017

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Better Farming

January 2017

e are at a point where

predicting future weather

from past activities may

not offer us much insight into what is

in store for agriculture. As Eric J.

McNulty, the director of research at

the National Preparedness Leadership

Initiative, says, it is a VUCA world –

volatile, uncertain, complex and

ambiguous.

In Ontario, various stakeholder

groups are working on a number of

initiatives to try to address some of

this uncertainty. For example, there is

OMAFRA’s Soil Health Working

Group, the Soil Health Interpretive

Centre at the University of Guelph,

the Great Lakes Agricultural Steward-

ship Initiative managed by the

Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement

Association, and Fertilizer Canada’s

4R Nutrient Stewardship. The

Ontario Agri Business Association

has a memorandum of cooperation

with Fertilizer Canada and OMAFRA

to adopt 4R Stewardship principles in

reducing phosphorus loss. There’s

also the OFA and Great Lakes and St.

Lawrence Cities Initiative, Grow

Ontario Together (the stakeholder

group of agricultural industry

producer associations), initiatives

from Farm and Food Care Ontario,

and initiatives from various conserva-

tion authorities. In 2016, the Certified

Crop Advisors (CCA) of Ontario

adopted the 4R Nutrient Manage-

ment Specialist Designation for

practicing CCAs.

I think the common theme that

ties the various stakeholders together

is a collective concern for sustainabil-

ity. In particular, sustainability

involves the triple bottom line of

economic, environmental and social

pillars that guide, or should guide,

actions in the agricultural industry.

We need all three pillars to be

recognized in all future endeavours,

regardless of the initiatives’ affilia-

tions.

I had the good fortune to attend

the American Society of Agronomy

(ASA) annual general meeting in

Phoenix in November, where I

officially received my International

CCA of the Year award. But, most

importantly, the meeting is the

annual gathering of over 4,000 ASA

members. This group is comprised of

university and private researchers

who presented the latest research on

hundreds of topics in concurrent

sessions over four days, not to

mention several hundreds of poster

sessions. The theme for the conven-

tion was “Resilience Emerging from

Scarcity and Abundance.”

Sandra Postel of the Global Water

Policy Project, which is headquar-

tered in Boston, Massachusetts, gave

the keynote address. She delivered a

rather sobering view of the present

water supply and gave glimpses into

what could be done in the future to

address the situation. Only 3.25 per

cent of the world’s water is fresh water

and only 1 per cent of the total supply

CROPS:

YIELD

MATTER$

Let’s focus our actions on protecting water

There is a lot of discussion about soil health and climate change. Underlying these concerns, however,

is the need to conserve and effectively use water.

by DALE COWAN

Sustainability involves the triple bottom line of economic, environmental and social pillars that

guide, or should guide, actions in the agricultural industry.

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