Studying greenhouse gases in Canada

Aug 01, 2019

The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association is leading a project on carbon sequestration

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A national project is designed to show how forage and grasslands producers can use high-performance management techniques to boost yields and store carbon in the soil.

The Canadian Forage & Grassland Association (CFGA) is leading the project after it received $656,000 in funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to participate in the Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program.

The initiative is divided into four stages:

Completing a state of science literature review
Developing a carbon-sequestration protocol for Canadian forage production systems
Developing a best management practices guide for enhancing carbon storage in forage systems
Piloting the protocol on Canadian farms

The program is in its second stage, said Cedric MacLeod, executive director of the CFGA.

“The organization found that the lack of a protocol to quantify soil carbon under grasslands is a major limitation to bring value to the sector,” he told Farms.com. “We’re trying to build a framework that would allow a grasslands manager to get carbon offset credits from his or her grasslands and sell them into the carbon market.”

The CFGA is working with its provincial counterparts to develop the protocols and frameworks.

In Manitoba, for example, the CFGA will work alongside five farmers to represent a wide range of greenhouse gas reduction strategies.

“Quite frankly, the five producers that we selected represent a growing number of what we feel are a rapidly increasing number of really informed, really keen livestock and grass producers in our province,” Duncan Morrison, executive director of the Manitoba Forage & Grassland Association, said in a July 16 statement. “It’s time to add the carbon equation to the decision mix and bolster the biodiversity, water management and soil health platforms of grassland retention, forage and livestock production and producer profitability.”

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.