In the last Beef Research School episode, we took a virtual walk through a riparian area to assess its health. Healthy riparian areas, that transitional zone from pasture to waterway, are critical to decreasing riverbank erosion and nutrient migration to waterways. Once you’ve determined the general health of your riparian areas, it’s time to put… Read More
Category: Water
How often do you walk the waterways, riverbanks and marshy areas of your pastures? These transitional areas from pasture to waterway, called riparian zones, are vital to soil and water health and deserve attention now and again to ensure cattle haven’t been too hard on them, or that invasive species or undesired species have moved… Read More
Concerns of habitat loss, wildlife diversity, climate change and clean air and water are growing. Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) — originally a pilot project out of Manitoba — is a means of addressing these concerns through a program where private landowners are paid to maintain and improve the ecological goods and services on their… Read More
Massive flooding last week in Calgary and High River, Alberta, displaced more than 70,000 people, has ruined homes and infrastructure and even taken lives. Images of homes, roads and bridges destroyed by the water are disturbing, and for those of us far from the mess, can’t help but leave us feeling a little helpless. I’ve… Read More
With a tight spray window and lots of ground to cover, farmers are always on the hunt for ways to cover more acres in a day. In a pinch, many will simply go faster, and, while that does work, it’s not without increased risks or potential reduced product efficacy. Instead, Tom Wolf, sprayer specialist and… Read More
Location has often been the first three things that drives real estate value, but when it comes to farm land, location means something very different. What’s more, while location is very important to land’s intrinsic value, there are several other factors that may trump where farm land is located. It makes sense, as farm land… Read More
Over 50 farmers gathered near a river diversion yesterday intending to send a message to the Manitoba government. The group of farmers, who farm near Lake Manitoba, were protesting a lack of fair compensation for forced flooding that occurred in 2011. A small group of farmers parked large equipment on the low side of the… Read More
In part 1 of our conversation with Dr. Hugh Earl of the University of Guelph he talked about the impact water stress can have on soybean yields. That study suggested that at some point during a number of growing seasons, even if rainfall was adequate, some yield was being lost to water stress. One of… Read More
Time to savour that juicy steak, chicken wings and delicious pork tenderloin, because within the next 40 years we’re all going to have go vegetarian. That’s according to a group of scientists from the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Researchers there point to water usage in livestock production as the main limiting factor of our… Read More
Climate change is one of those things that has forced scientists to speculate, to project and to anticipate scenarios in an attempt to help humanity deal with potential problems on the horizon. Some of those potential problems were discussed at the Climate Change Symposium in Guelph, Ontario. One area discussed was that of climate change’s… Read More