Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) should develop a report card system to help farmers assess their environmental footprint.
That was one of the ideas floated during a robust discussion following the AAFC’s presentation on the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy at the KAP Spring Advisory Council Meeting on April 14.
The idea was brought up by KAP’s District 6 director, Chuck Fossay, who said he envisioned some kind of merit/demerit system that evaluates activities with negative impacts, like increasing use of nitrogen fertilizers, against positive activities, like using urea inhibitors or planting legumes.
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Fossay’s suggestion was well received, but KAP member Glen Young advised caution with the scorecard idea. “Just make sure there are no penalties attached for a low score,” he said.
KAP’s newly-minted president, Jill Verwey made her debut as chair of the meeting.
The meeting also included a presentation by David Drozd of AgChieve Grain about understanding grain markets and knowing the best time to sell.
Three resolutions were debated and ultimately passed. The first resolution was to lobby Manitoba Hydro to identify farmers who may have been incorrectly labelled as corporate clients rather than agricultural clients (that have to pay a lower sales tax). The second resolved to lobby Manitoba Hydro to recognize the differences in the size, scope and scale of Manitoba farms when issuing equipment moving permits. And the last one was to lobby grain companies to simplify contracts.
Keep an eye out in future editions of the Manitoba Co-operator for more coverage of the KAP Spring Advisory Council Meeting.
