August, 2020
Page 3
SARDA Ag Research News
What is in the Water? SARDA Ag Research’s Water Testing Program Agriculture has long been under the scrutiny of the public for its environmental footprint on the landscape. The use of pesticides and herbicides is often vilified, synoymous with damage. Likewise, the production of livestock, mainly beef inthe Peace Region is viewed as cruel and damaging to the environment. In addition, it is recognized that all water on the landscape is linked to our creeks and rivers so that any contaminants on the land will end up in the water. What people fail to recognize is that the increased production and efficiency of both cropping and livestock production, has increased substantially. Thanks to this, the country is able to maintain a “cheap food” policy and provide excess products to export. If the country was unable to export produce, it would be unable to import those products we are unable to produce in our climate, like bananas. Farmers go unrecognized as the greatest environmentalists; their livelihood, their families’ livelihood and community relies on the sustainability and protection of the land. While profitability margins grow tighter and farmers are forced to be price takers in the current economic reality, some producers try to increase profitability by turning native vegetation areas into cropable acres or livestock production acres. Some environmentalists view this negatively. Many farmers are very conservative on the use of cropping inputs as tight economic margins discourage over application and encourage the maintenance of effective buffers next
Water Testing Locations to wetlands. Today’s livestock producers recognize the importance of using rotational grazing and exclusion of livestock from sensitive areas in protecting the ability of the land to produce forage. These practices emulate the natural grazing systems of wildlife in the past as large herds of bison denuded an area before moving on to “greener pastures”. In addition, people often forget, that farmers feed their families from the production of
