Conservation Agriculture Archives - Page 2 of 2

Promoting conservation agriculture in Africa

Canadian Foodgrains Bank will receive federal funds to scale  up smallholder adoption  

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff August 11, 2015

Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) has received $14 million from the federal government to scale up conservation agriculture programs in three African countries. The funding provided on a three-to-one matching basis, will enable the organization to assist 50,000 farmers in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, up from 5,000 farmers it is currently assisting, it says in a

Cereals, Local news

Expecting an early cereal harvest? Try growing a cover crop

A nitrogen boost is just one of many benefits of adding cover crops to the rotation

By Joanne Thiessen Martens And Anne Kirk June 15, 2015

In many parts of Manitoba spring cereals were seeded early this year, and harvest may occur directly after winter wheat harvest. An early harvest means that there may still be two months of warm weather between harvest and freeze-up — warmth that could be used to grow a late-season cover crop. Cover crops are known

Crops, Opinion

Editorial: They brought in plows?

By Laura Rance-Unger April 6, 2015

When a consortium of Canadian non-government organizations funded by the Canadian government arrived in the Benishangul-Gumuz state in Western Ethiopia five years ago, their primary goal was to help smallholder farmers boost productivity and food security. They came in with “modern” farming methods. In this context, that meant oxen and plows, showing farmers how to

Zambian farmer Wilfred Hamakumba and his wife Irene, have embraced herbicides as part of their conservation agriculture management. Over the past several years, the farm’s yields have more than doubled, their crops are more diversified and their farm has expanded in size. Irene is particularly pleased with their spraying program, saying it takes a lot less labour than weeding.

Crops, International news

Can conservation agriculture save Africa’s soils?

Adoption rates are  slow, but it may be the continent’s best —  and last — hope

By Laura Rance-Unger March 13, 2015

It was the end of a very long day. We had travelled to remote areas on bad roads, walked barefoot across a flooding creek and hiked nearly an hour both ways to reach one of the three farmers we were scheduled to visit. We were on the trail of conservation agriculture (CA) success stories, and

Crops, International news

Mulch, mice and ‘the man problem’ hold up CA adoption

Women are interested in producing food while men are more interested in growing cash crops using conventional methods

By Laura Rance-Unger March 5, 2015

After three years of producing maize using conservation agriculture, Nkasauka Nthala is a convert. The yields from her tiny .16-hectare plot of maize grown using direct seeding instead of hoeing were 166 per cent above the yields of maize grown under conventional practices. Yet only a small portion of the farm she shares with her

Thomas Nkhunda, 37, has been using conservation agriculture on his plots for eight years.

Cereals, Crops, News

Dropping the hoe and doubling the yield

Minimum tillage  makes for dramatic improvements for this family in Malawi

By Laura Rance-Unger February 26, 2015

It’s raining, but that doesn’t stop Thomas Nkhunda from leading a group of visitors into his fields where he describes how he manages plots demonstrating the benefits of conservation agriculture. Rain isn’t unusual at this time of year. After all, it’s the rainy season in Malawi. What’s unusual is the fact that the rains they

man standing on crop research project field

Crops

Will it be chess or checkers?

A researcher explores different ways of sustainably playing the farming game

By Julienne Isaacs February 4, 2015

It was standing room only in the University of Manitoba’s Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre Jan. 21 for a seminar entitled “Conservation agriculture, organic farming and agro-ecology: the three musketeers of a sustainable food system.” “I try to do this every year because I want to give the graduate students permission to ask tough questions and

Crops, Opinion

Editorial: Changing how we think

By Laura Rance-Unger January 12, 2015

Back in the days when Prairie farmers were still in the experimental phase of adopting what is now known as conservation agriculture, I remember interviewing a farmer who had gone all the way and embraced zero tillage. He said it was an exercise in frustration bordering on failure until he realized the transition involved more

Opinion

Looking below the surface

By John Morriss July 7, 2014

Some of the world’s top soil scientists and conservation agriculture exponents convened for the sixth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Winnipeg last week. The message from speakers was on one hand sobering, if not frightening — massive soil erosion continues around the world, and in both developed and undeveloped countries. The good news is

From upper left: Steve Groff, Jodi DeJong-Hughes, David Montgomery, Amir Kassam.

News

Conservation agriculture gaining ground

But breaking through  tradition is difficult

By Shannon VanRaes July 4, 2014

It’s common to rebel against your parents, except it seems, when deciding how best to farm. “Never underestimate tradition,” Jodi DeJong-Hughes told those gathered in Winnipeg for the sixth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture last week. The Minnesota-based extension educator and tillage specialist said there is one thing she hears more often than not when

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: Cattle rebound on technical buying

U.S. grains: Soybeans fall as rapid harvest overshadows China trade hopes

Good weather pushes Alberta harvest along

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