New answers for protecting water quality.
An AAFC technician takes water samples from the Lower Little Bow.
A core part of supporting a healthy environment through the Environmental Farm Plan process is identifying beneficial management practices (BMPs) to protect water quality. Now a major research project, ambitious in scale for Canada, is underway to help Alberta cattlemen do just that.
The Watershed Evaluation of BMPs (WEBs) is a four-year project initially funded at $5.65 million with additional incremental funding since added. This national initiative seeks to quantify at a micro-watershed scale (about 300 hectares) the relative environmental and economic effects of selected BMPs on water quality.
The project, conducted from 2004-2008, involves seven regional micro-watershed sites across Canada, including the Lower Little Bow Watershed, near Lethbridge, Alta.
"Our focus is to evaluate BMPs, to see which ones work the best to protect water quality and at the same time get the most bang for the buck," says Dr. Jim Miller, of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), who manages the Lower Little Bow Watershed component of the project.
"Producers can apply for BMP funding through the National Farm Stewardship Program and environmental farm planning process to make improvements to their operations. Our research will help to identify the best ways to invest those dollars, for the benefit of both cattlemen and the watershed areas in which they operate."
The WEBs project is part of the broader Greencover Canada program, a five-year, $110-million Government of Canada initiative to help producers improve grassland-management practices, protect water quality, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and enhance biodiversity and wildlife habitat.
The Watershed Evaluation of BMPs project is primarily funded by AAFC, with Ducks Unlimited Canada a key project partner, contributing $1.25 million of the total funding.
"The seven regional WEBs watershed sites are in areas of historical benchmarking, where long-term background conditions and trends at the watershed level are well understood," says Miller, a research scientist in AAFC's Environmental Health Program. "In the case of the Lower Little Bow, this is a watershed area that not only has been well evaluated over the long term, but one that is in the heart of a major cattle production area. This makes it an ideal site to evaluate BMPs relevant to cattle production."
Miller says that water quality has never been a more important issue for the agriculture industry. Fortunately, Canada has strong science in place, and solid resources for further research, to help provide the industry with simple, practical and economical management solutions.
"We have a pretty good handle on beneficial practices," says Miller. "The more detailed knowledge we uncover, the better equipped producers will be to select options that best suit their individual operations and situations. We know a lot about how to protect water and there's more we can learn. We can also learn a lot more about fine-tuning management approaches to get the same results with greater cost efficiency – that will be a major benefit of the current study."
Economic considerations are fully integrated into BMP thinking, says Miller. As defined by AAFC, a BMP is any agricultural management practice, or system of practices which a) ensures the long-term health and sustainability of land-related resources used for agricultural production, b) positively impacts the long-term economic and environmental viability of the agricultural sector, and c) minimizes negative impacts and risk to the environment.
"It's about balance," says Miller. "We know there are greater expectations than ever to protect water. We also know producers have faced challenging economic times. The goal of BMPs is to find ways to meet the needs of both the environment and the industry, not to promote one over the other."
In the WEBs project, researchers are evaluating both BMPs that protect surface water supplies, such as dugouts, small reservoirs, rivers and lakes. In some cases the quality of groundwater may also be considered.
"BMPs are judged by their ability to reduce the potential for contaminants to enter the water source," says Miller.
There are three general types of BMPs that do this: managing agricultural inputs, controlling erosion and runoff, and implementing barriers and buffers.
For the Lower Little Bow study, Miller and colleagues are investigating five specific BMPs:
Once the study is completed, it will provide producers with improved approaches to fine-tune their operations, says Miller. Partners hope the WEBs project will turn into a long-term monitoring and evaluation program that will provide a framework for continuous improvement of BMPs.
"This is an important step to help the agriculture industry, including the beef industry, operate more sustainably, and have a more successful future as a result," says Miller.
More detailed information on the project is available in a new "Perspective on Beef Science" article, which producers can access on the Meristem Land and Science Web site, www.meristem.com. Land and Science is a service featuring information on the sustainability of agriculture, food production and the environment. It is presented by Meristem Information Resources Ltd., in co-operation with partners in agriculture, food, environment and life sciences.
Meristem "Perspective" articles and reports are an ongoing series designed to bring to light various important perspectives on issues critical to sustainable agricultural, food and environmental systems. Development of the WEBs project article was supported by the Canada Alberta Beef Industry Development Fund.
This article is reprintable with credit to AEFP as follows "Reprinted courtesy of the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company; www.albertaEFP.com".
