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    Land-use

    The land-use conference starts Monday evening in Edmonton. I am going and will listen carefully for the word "priorities". I believe that the agricultural land should first be used to grow food for local populations. It is entirely possible that one day, for any reason, we will not be able to import food from another country. We need to make sure our province, our country, our community, is self-sufficient in food at all times. Extensive food production equals food security, in my mind. If there is surplus agricultural land, then it can be used for growing export food which is done intensively. However I admire intensive farmers who make the effort to at least learn more about things like crop and grazing rotation, integrated pest management, and companion planting, to reduce inputs.

    Organic food is good for the soil, so is permanent pasture. Each farm in each location will have to figure out how close to the original garden of Eden (which didn't know about Monsanto, for example)they can get. The Environmental Farm Plan is a good place to start. I think you could learn more about that from the AESA or PFRA people.

    #2
    I am a bit concerned most of the solutuons being put forward these days are "how to lower our input cost" solutions. Where are the "how to increase our revenue solutions"?

    What are we doing to discover new ways to make more money on what we use that land for? Is a golf course a good way to use the soil (it can be torn up and reseeded in a year?) or building a new airport runway (not so easily returned to crop land)? Is going organic and decreasing the yield of crop a solution if it means we keep adding more and more marginal land to crop use to get the same people fed verus leaving the margnal land in a more natural state for the birds and deer or cattle?

    These are complex issues and should be debated in a public venue with John C Consumer invited, not just agricultural folks talking to other agricultural folks and arguing over if they should build a hog barn or not.

    Comment


      #3
      In order for their to be balance with the land out there we need everything from intensive farming - crops developed at centralized systems to extensive farming - crops developed based on local adaptation and climate. Everything in between and including these two will be needed in order to sustain. What would happen if we quit forcing land to produce something that it cannot feasibly support and let it do what it needs to do?

      A friend of mine is quite big into holistic management and grass fed cattle. For a number of years now they have intensively grazed their livestock and built up a huge biological capacity on their land. She was telling me that they have species of plants coming up on their land that they haven't seen in those parts for a good many years. They quit trying to force the land to do what it couldn't or wouldn't and are getting paid back in spades now. This type of system isn't for everyone as it is very labor intensive, but it works for them and their goals.

      I was recently in Quebec and a friend there showed a group of us some very fertile land that had recently been drained and the organic matter in this soil was a rich brown and extremely healthy. These lands are being used for vegetable farms and as we went along to where the land was in production for a longer period of time, that nice organic matter was slowly turning black. This was due in large part to not protecting the land over winter and during the periods of heavy rains and all that was rich in the soil was ending up in the ditch.

      It seems to me that we have to start treating the land better and remember that we are just borrowing what's out there, it isn't ours to exploit and get what we can from it. We need to look to the future.

      Comment


        #4
        I was just thinking that a penny saved is a penny earned, so reducing input costs are a way of increasing profit. Also, growing a crop organically (or with less pesticide and using manure or legume crops for adding organic matter and nitrogen) does not necessarily point to reduced crop yields.

        Who said it was our duty to grow food for the world's population? There isn't that much wrong with subsistance agriculture or subsistance plus extra to sell at the local market. If there is a drought and death is knocking at their door, then of course we should feed them until the rains come and they can support themselves again. What I'm getting at is that food production should be for local consumption first. To produce food specifically to ship away is not natural (except that humans are animals and we ARE doing it!) Then there is the question of how much energy goes into growing, shipping, storing of exported food and the greenhouse gases produced during this strange ritual of modern agricultural industrialism.

        The other question is, if we asked small farmers why they like to farm, would they say it is because they make a fortune? No, most would say that they get by, and it is the location and the lifestyle that they like. I know lots of farmers that work in town to support their farm and they'd rather do this than not have a farm to come home to at the end of the day.

        I hope I'm not hogging the discussion. It is so nice to air my thoughts. Can someone tell me what the icon means that is a note tacked on a wall, and the arrow and the sun with sunglasses?

        Comment


          #5
          Quite the contrary, Deb, you are not hogging the message board, but rather you are bringing a new perspective to some of the discussions that have already gone on in other discussion rooms and with other topics.

          I too will be going to the Land Use Conference and have been mulling over what it is I would like to hear and to say if need be. I agree with you 100% that we have bought into this notion of bigger is better and feeding the world with gusto, without too much thought about the holistic impact that these decisions will have. Cowman has brought up about the ILO's, or to be politically correct now - Confined Livestock - how are these decisions going to affect how we treat the land? Has anybody bothered to do any long-term research with respect to the impact all the manure from say feedlot alley is doing to the environment? It seems to me that the soil will at some point become saturated and then what do we do? What about all those piles of manure out there?

          What about feeding the people in our own country? I think it is shameful that we have people and more particularly children going hungry in this country and in this province. Using the land is a big social issue and we should be getting more people involved, even if our urban cousins feel that they are too busy for this type of discussion. If they don't make the time, there may not be those wide open spaces to travel to and get some relief from.

          As far as the icons go, I think that someone from the Mayor's office will have to answer that. My guess at the little guy with sunglasses would be that the future is so bright, she's gotta wear shades.

          I'll see you at the Land Use conference.

          Comment


            #6
            Land use:

            Such a wonderful topic, we have many views of how and what to do, studies for land use that go back since domestication began. We can always say we do a better job then the next guy (heard Canada comp aired to Argentina, and how Canada has used good land use practices while Argentina has not and they seem to be in a mess now)
            There are so many changes we can make it is hard to figure where to start, our soil testing methods are so advanced now and technology so good, we can tell exactly where and what to put on what part of the field and tune the equipment in to do it. Even so we are still inside the box on many of these issues.

            The natural laws will always dictate in the end. You treat the land with respect or it
            will kick your tush! If you are going to use your land for intensive anything, then you
            best be prepared to invest in what ever is needed to protect your land, replenish what you take, or pay the price to clean it up. This goes for all land users not just farmers and ranchers.

            Comment


              #7
              You are right when you say we must respect the land (soil, earth) or it will kick us in the butt.

              Here in Alberta, land-use issues have come about since the population surge, and since the forests have all been allocated to large tree harvesting corporations (mostly foreign), and since the huge influx of oil and gas industry (mostly foreign) and since the agricultural land has begin to be invaded by urbanites wanting get-away country residences.

              Cakadu, I never met you at the land-use conference. Too bad! There were good speakers, eh? And a couple of awful ones too, unfortunately.

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