Focusing on plant diversity

Mar 23, 2022

The Stanley Soil Management Association (SSMA) held its AGM last week.

Joseph Gardiner, Co-founder of Covers & Co. at Crystal City, Manitoba, was the keynote speaker.

He talked to the virtual group about plant diversity.

"We have a common conception of how agriculture works and that is monocropping. We grow a field of wheat or field of canola and our eyes fail to look at the blueprint that mother nature has put out for us. A high grade variety of plants, plants that grow at different heights capturing sunlight at different heights, rooted different levels, capture sunlight at different times, have different growing seasons."

Gardiner says the key is creating diversity with the plants that are growing and capturing photosynthetic energy at different times of the year.

"By doing that, we can capture sunlight more efficiently and feed the biology in the soil eco-system, so our soils can infiltrate water and air and create homes for biology that are responsible for growing the plants that we need to survive."

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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.