Conservation Agriculture Archives - Manitoba Co-operator

After learning conservation agriculture techniques, Asnakech Zema saw her corn yields increase more than tenfold.

Sustaining hope: Conservation agriculture making gains in Ethiopia

Norway partners with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank to continue to support east-African farmers

By Geralyn Wichers May 11, 2022

Each year, Ethiopian farmers lose 1.5 billion metric tons of topsoil, Frew Beriso said, quoting the number from a 2008 study. As a result, whatever investment of nutrients exceedingly expensive for smallholder farmers — are put into the soil are in vain. Moisture is the other top issue. This year the spring rains are delayed,

People climb a dike formed by wind soil erosion during a field tour at the Global Forum on Soil Stewardship.

Farmit Manitoba, Local news

Soil degradation a costly global issue

About a third of the world’s soil is degraded, which has economic and food security implications

By Geralyn Wichers August 12, 2019

When Prairie-dwellers think of soil erosion, they may think of iconic photos from the Dirty ’30s: towering clouds of black soil blowing across desolate land, teacups turned upside down against drifting grit. But as Francis Zvomuya told the classroom of farmers and agronomists at the Global Forum on Soil Stewardship, soil degradation is far from

Farmers, agronomists, and people with an interest in global soil health met in Carman July 25 and 26 to discuss the challenges of protecting soil.

Farmit Manitoba, Local news

Carman event serves up common ground on soil health practices

Canadian and African agronomists shared perspectives on conservation agriculture at a recent Canadian Foodgrains Bank forum

By Geralyn Wichers August 7, 2019

Jocelyn Velestuk stood in front of the research station classroom filled with people and confessed to an addiction of sorts. “I am obsessed with soil,” the Saskatchewan farmer and agronomist told her audience. “I even had a mud-themed birthday party when I was young,” she said in a later interview. “The first soil science class

Bob McIntosh, who farms in Perth County, says it can take a lifetime or longer to repair degraded soils.

Crops

Degraded soils cost farmers billions annually

Yet soil care remains a low priority for policy-makers as well as farmers

By Laura Rance-Unger September 19, 2017

Farmers have reduced the amount of soil they lose through annual cropping practices, but they continue to carry a costly legacy of degraded soils, a University of Manitoba soil scientist says. David Lobb used crop production data and computer models to estimate how much lost productivity has occurred over the past four decades due to

Comment, Opinion

It’s time to make soil great again

Continuing to lose topsoil will make it harder to feed a growing population

By David R. Montgomery May 29, 2017

David R. Montgomery is a professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is author of the award-winning non-fiction book, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, and his latest book, Growing A Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life was to be released in May. This article was originally published

Malawian subsistence farmer Simon Sikazwe stands beside communal maize fields in Dowa near the capital Lilongwe, February 3, 2016. Late rains in Malawi threaten the staple maize crop and have pushed prices to record highs. About 14 million people face hunger in Southern Africa because of a drought exacerbated by an El Niño weather pattern, according to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).

Crops, International news

Smarter farming could cut hunger in drought-hit Southern Africa — researchers

Too few resources are available to educate the continent’s farmers  about potential solutions to their problems

By Busani Bafana September 28, 2016

Southern African farmers facing hunger as a result of worsening drought know a lot about climate change but lack the resources to put solutions that work into place, agriculture and development researchers say. That is in part because government agricultural extension services, which offer training and advice to farmers, have too few agents, according to

Jane Wanjiko standing in her maize field.

Crops, International news

African smallholders are adopting conservation agriculture techniques

When you’re subsisting on three-quarters of an acre, increasing  maize production from 32 kg a year to 990 kg is a life-changing event

By Stefan Epp-Koop September 7, 2016

This summer Stefan Epp-Koop travelled to Kenya as part of a Canadian Foodgrains Bank learning tour, focused on the importance of agriculture in achieving numerous development goals: reducing hunger, increasing incomes, empowering women, adapting to a changing climate, and improving nutrition. Throughout the trip he visited farmers, government officials and researchers, exploring solutions that were

Erwin Northoff (r), chief of media for FAO, presents the Star Prize to Laura Rance at the 2016 IFAJ Congress in Bonn, Germany. (IFAJ.org)

Crops

FBC editorial chief wins major international awards

By GFM Network News, Manitoba Co-operator Staff July 15, 2016

Laura Rance, editorial director of Farm Business Communications and editor of the Manitoba Co-operator, has won two major international awards for her work on African agriculture. Rance won the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Star Prize for ‘Africa’s Hunger Games,’ published in the Winnipeg Free Press in April 2015. The same piece was awarded

Crops, News

Study defines role of organic ag in feeding the world

Numerous studies point to the environmental benefits

By Lorraine Stevenson February 16, 2016

Organic agriculture can play an important role in feeding the world, according to a new study comparing conventional and organic farming systems’ ability to produce yields, benefit farmers’ bottom line, and sustain the environment. That’s the conclusion drawn by Washington State University (WSU) researchers after a review of 40 years of science-based evidence comparing organic

Local news

Women’s 2015 conference focus on healthy soil

The Winkler event was well attended November 15 to 17

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff November 26, 2015

“Don’t treat soil like dirt.” It is a living breathing organism and we must treat it well to sustain our future. That was the closing message at last week’s Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference delivered by Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD) land management specialist Marla Riekman. This is the 29th year of a conference

Daily Network News

‘Significant’ Canadian GDP slide expected in 2026, FCC says

Gene edited, PRRS resistant pig approved in Canada

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures end week higher

Tag Archives Conservation Agriculture