Since you asked

Who's taking care

Story by Joy Gregory

High-quality, safe food. A healthy environment. Today’s consumers want both.

Environmental stewardship.  These are hot-button words in many of Alberta’s resource-based industries.  But when a select few inside the agrifood industry shrugged off the expression in years past (wasn’t it just a whole lot of fuss about nothing?) they did so secure in their knowledge of two things.  First, consumers trusted farmers were doing a good job. And second, consumers didn’t really care about where their food came from.  That was then.  This is now.

TODAY, ALBERTANS CARE HOW THEIR FOOD IS PREPARED. THE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD INDUSTRY IS RESPONDING by being vocal about its commitment to the link between environmental stewardship and safe, quality food.  Moreover, it wants consumers to share its interest in the good news about what’s happening at the farm gate, because “our products impact everybody every time they eat,” says Alberta’s highest-profile farmer, Shirley McClellan, Deputy Premier and Minister of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD).

In this issue of Since You Asked, we interviewed two Alberta farm families – both of whom live and breathe environmental stewardship for different reasons. We also talked to the Honourable Lyle Van Clief, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, to get a national perspective on why caring for the environment is tied to Canada’s reputation as a quality food supplier.

A Deeply Personal Commitment

Ask Ken and Jackie Farion about their interest in environmental stewardship and they cast a quick glance around the dinner table to where their four children sit. Ken’s a fifth-generation farmer married to a farmer’s daughter.  To Ken and his wife “our role as stewards of the land we farm is important – and deeply personal.”  This 4,000-acre farm just west of Vegreville (think West Edmonton Mall times 33!) is where they make their living, raise their children – and dream of a sixth generation on the front lines of food production in Alberta.

This commitment to the future operators of their farm is the #1 reason the Farions are so keen to look for ways to make it as environmentally sound as possible.  Twelve years ago, that forward-thinking approach led them to adopt direct seeding practices.  Under this system, which requires an investment in specialized seeding equipment, the Farions don’t till their land after cutting their crops for harvest. Instead, they leave the stubble (a few inches of dead crop left over from harvesting) standing.  It traps snow for early spring moisture and protects the soil from the ravages of wind and water erosion.  It also boosts their soil’s organic matter.  This improves its ability to hold water and it encourages crop roots to grow long and strong.

Protecting the Soil is Law

Keeping top soil on the land is law in Alberta – and it’s legislation that farmers easily buy into.  With new technology and farm management advances, preventing precious top soil from blowing away is simply good business sense.

The Farions also know direct seeding is a good fit with scientifically-sound rotations of canola, grain and peas too.  By rotating their crops, they diversify their output and provide a natural check against the build-up of crop-destroying weeds, pests or diseases.  Their legumes and field pea crops, actually boost the soil’s nitrogen level, naturally decreasing their dependence on fertilizer.  By skipping the tillage operation they even reduce their farm’s use of carbon-based fuel.

Planning for the Environment

About a year ago, the Farions answered a call to help test and refine a made-in-Alberta version of Ontario’s environmental planning process.  Now available to producers through the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan (EFP), a non-profit company set up to deliver the voluntary self-assessment checklist, the EFP “helped us learn a lot about our farm,” says Ken Farion.

The EFP takes producers through a comprehensive checklist that runs from soil and site characteristics to storage of petroleum products, livestock manure and fertilizers, as well as crop, pastures and pest management (and much more) to help assess specific environmental risks.  The process also builds awareness of existing and potential problems and offers solutions.  On the financial front, EFPs are valued by real estate agents, accountants and bankers, says Therese Tompkins, Program Director.  “They see a farm with an EFP as a solid business operation and a firm indication of the owner’s interest in protecting the resources of their business.”

Working through the EFP made the Farions re-think their fertilizer storage.  Although they don’t use the well behind the shed where they currently store their fertilizer, the Farions now plan to build a new shed at a greater distance from the well.  While they’ve never had a spill, they’re not willing to take the chance of polluting that water source.

Enthusiasm for the EFP runs high amongst farmers, with motivation to complete the checklist varying from farmer to farmer.  “Some just really believe in stewardship and doing the best job they can.  Others want to be part of a proactive program that offers practical solutions to potential problems.  There’s a strong farm safety perspective as well.  These farms are where people raise their families,” says Tompkins, herself the product of a dry-land crop farm in the Wrentham area of southern Alberta.

From where the Farions sit, environmental stewardship is a contemporary twist on the idea that the one who pays the piper calls the tune.  They’re convinced more and more consumers want information about the way their food is produced.  “Consumers have a right to know,” Ken says.  “After all; they’re the ones buying our products.”

Clean Water is Uncontaiminated Water

Don Curtice appreciates that practical approach to environmental stewardship. He and his wife,Carol, run Little Red Feeders Ltd., a beef feedlot that borders about 3.3 km of the Little Red Deer River southwest of Innisfail.  About five years ago,Curtice started an organization called the Friends of the Little Red Deer River Society.  Bringing together landowners,municipalities, local residents and other stakeholders, the society aims to enhance the water quality of the Little Red Deer River and its watershed (the areas affected by a draining river or stream) by educating stakeholders.

They’re laudable goals.  But ask Curtice why he spearheaded the society’s formation and he’s quick to admit a selfish interest.  Curtice is darn proud of his third-generation farm’s award-winning reputation for making the long-term health of that little river a solid business priority.  Working in an area that supports more than 25,000 head of beef cattle within 16 km of their own farm, the Curtices knew what their own feedlot was doing and why.  Getting involved with one of Alberta’s first community riparian action groups was a good way to make sure others knew it too.  (Riparian areas are adjacent to waterways or wetlands.  They tend to be environmentally sensitive and are important to a biologically diverse group of plant and animals species.)

From the time his father started the feedlot in the mid-1960s, the family sought ways to protect the river from effluent generated by the operation, explains Curtice.  Today’s feedlot typically handles 3,500 head.Manure from the feedlot goes onto the fields they own or rent, thus fertilizing silage crops used to feed successive groups of cattle.  But run-off is another matter.Here, the Curtices capitalize on the land’s natural slope.  Settling ponds, grass filter strips, artificial marshes and a floodable meadow of perennial forage all work to slow down the effluent.  “We make sure that any water leaving our land is not contaminated by our feedlot,” says Curtice, whose operation earned the Alberta Beef Producers’ 2002 Environmental Stewardship Award.

Canada's Reputation at Stake

Ask Lyle Van Clief, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada why environmental stewardship is important, and he’ll offer a whole raft of reasons.  But one of the biggest ones is tied to Canada’s brand as a supplier of safe, quality, environmentally responsible products.  He points out, “A new global concern for the environment and increased awareness of the relationship between what we consume and the health we enjoy, are cornerstones of the international markets into which Canadian agricultural products are sold.”

“In our business, as in any other, the consumer is king,” says Van Clief.  “Today, that consumer represents many different cultures, countries, and preferences – to be responsive; we need to market a solid, clearly identifiable brand.”

A core element of the brand, and a key differentiator for Canada, is the industry’s commitment to environmental stewardship.  Taking care of the environment,Van Clief points out, is a reflection of ethics, business and personal values.  “That commitment goes a long way to cementing Canada’s reputation as a quality food supplier.  The Farion and Curtice families agree.  “It’s more than running a business,” says Curtice. “It’s about building Canada’s future.”

Back at Vegreville, Ken Farion insists that he’s never regretted his choice of livelihood and he laughs off any suggestion that “things were somehow better 50 years ago.  He likes the way innovative technology has brought everything from better crops, to better machines and better markets.  Indeed, he and Jackie are both hopeful their kids may follow their parents’ path and choose a career in agricultural food production.  In the meantime, they’ll keep farming the way they always have, which means adopting management practices that make environmental and economic sense.  Anything less would devalue their own land.  For people with four kids and a farm, that’s never been an option.