Precision agriculture
Canadian farmers are increasingly adopting precision agriculture practices, including the use of GPS guidance, drones, sensors, soil sampling and precision machinery, to grow crops more efficiently. Precision agriculture techniques help farmers make more informed decisions about their crops based on the unique nature of their fields so that they can do the right thing, in the right place, at the right time.
Activities like SWAT (soil, water, and topography) mapping give farmers the ‘lay of the land’ and a deeper understanding of the potential of each part of their farm. Areas that aren’t good for growing crops can be left as habitat for wildlife and pollinators, which contributes to biodiversity. Fields that are well suited to growing a crop can be broken into smaller zones and treated differently depending on their needs (for instance, more or less fertilizer or herbicides). These prescriptions for the field can then be used to communicate with high-tech machinery and GPS technology, adjusting the amount of product that is applied on each zone. Farmers can target areas and apply pesticides only where they are needed. Ultimately, this allows for a more sustainable approach to farming.
Soil health
Soil is key to growing food. Did you know that one teaspoon of soil contains more micro-organisms than there are people in the world?[1]. Soil is living, and it is a vital resource that forms the foundation of farming and food production. Protecting soil from erosion and nutrient depletion is essential. That’s why farmers focus on efforts that help build soil organic matter and keep the soil where it is supposed to be.
If you’ve ever seen images of the Dust Bowl that ravished North American prairies in the 1930s, you will know how serious soil degradation can become. Luckily, there are tools and techniques that help farmers protect the soil from being blown or washed away. Using cover crops to keep bare soil covered in between cropping cycles is one way farmers can fight erosion. Farmers also use berms – raised ‘hills’ – and buffer strips to protect against soil erosion and prevent soil runoff from entering local waterways.
The practice of no-till or conservation tillage has also helped dramatically improve soil health, especially in western Canada. [2] Canadian farmers were among the early adopters of biotech crops, often referred to as GMOs, more than two decades ago. Herbicide–tolerant crops enabled the wide-spread move toward conservation tillage practices. These crops allow farmers to apply a single herbicide directly to the crop to control weeds, significantly limiting the need for farmers to till – or plow – their fields to remove remaining weeds, which can be detrimental for soil health. Conservation tillage practices have helped farmers build organic matter and improve the health of their soil. Canadian farmers continue to increase their no-till acres with 19 of our 33 million cropland acres (58%) being no-till in 2016. Adopting conservation tillage and no-till farming has also led to saving 1.2 billion litres of fuel between 1996 and 2018.[3]
Biodiversity
Canadian farmers have embraced agricultural innovations like pesticides and GMOs to make the most of the land already being used to grow food, rather than expanding and potentially having a negative impact on biodiversity. Growing more on existing land means we can leave additional wildlife habitats like forests and hedgerows untouched.
Without these tools, farmers would need 44 per cent more land than they use today to grow the same amount of food. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the total area covered by New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. combined.[4]
Resilience
Whether it’s flooding, drought or increased salinity, farmers are having to grow food in more unpredictable and challenging conditions. As the impacts of climate change continue to challenge farmers, new plant breeding innovations can help develop heartier plants that are better able to survive difficult conditions and can help create a more resilient food system.
[1] https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1101660.pdf
[2] https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/agriculture-and-environment/soil-and-land/soil-management/issues-management-problems-and-solutions-maintaining-zero-tillage-system-and-other-beneficial-soil
[3] https://helpingcanadagrow.ca/benefits-to-the-environment
[4] https://helpingcanadagrow.ca/benefits-to-the-environment
[5] https://a2k9b9g7.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/The-value-of-plant-science-innovations-to-canadians-2020-1.pdf