Potato farming isn’t exactly gentle on the land, so the idea of regenerative potato farming may seem like a contradiction. But Colorado-potato farmer Brendon Rockey has found a way to incorporate cover crops, companion crops and even livestock into his operation.

Alberta rancher Steve Kenyon has a coffee shop-style chat with Brendon about everything from soil health, biodiversity, cover crops and the need for certain paradigm shifts in agriculture.

Thank you to Gateway Research Organization (GRO) for providing us with this recording of Steve and Brandon’s conversation. Check out the rest of GRO’s Coffee Shop series on YouTube.

Highlights:

12:00 – nutrient cycling and bringing in the neighbor’s cattle to graze off your cover crop.

22:00 – increasing plant diversity was the biggest positive change made at Rockey Farms.

39:40 – Brendon reveals his favourite potatoes.

45:00 – companion crops affecting the subtle flavours in beer (hint: companion crops planted with barely).

1:10 – is it time for the coffee shop to become the place where you actually want to bring your new ideas for your farm or ranch?

Useful Links:

Rockey Farms
http://www.brendonrockey.com/rockey-farms.html

Gateway Research Organization
https://gatewayresearchorganization.com/

Grazing and cover crops
https://www.producer.com/crops/livestock-grazing-improves-economics-of-green-manure/

Green Manures
https://www.pivotandgrow.com/resources/production/green-manures/module-3-managing-green-manures/

USDA scientist Jay Fuhrer
https://www.grainews.ca/features/the-five-principles-of-soil-health/

Stripper Headers
https://www.producer.com/crops/stripper-headers-could-be-on-the-way-back/

Land Institute
https://landinstitute.org/our-work/perennial-crops/kernza/

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

After listening to this episode, we recommend downloading Episode 33, Episode 22, Episode 20 and Episode 9 to learn more about regenerative agriculture in Alberta. We have some great regen ag reads on the Farmer’s Blog too.

RR2CS Season 3 Episode 36: Regenerative Potatoes

There is an amazing cast of characters that Rural Routes to Climate Solutions relies on to do the work that the organization does. Get to know two of them in this bonus podcast episode.

Diandra Bruised Head is our project coordinator for Kainai First Nation (also known as Blood Tribe). She goes by DJ as well and she is currently producing learning modules about climate change to be used in Kainai and the rest of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Confederacy. She is a member of the Kainai Ecosystem Protection Association (KEPA), a volunteer-based organization from her reserve for concerned members regarding environment issues. She follows the Blackfoot ways of her ancestors and understands that being Blackfoot cannot be separated from being on traditional Blackfoot territory. She lives in Standoff.

Marie Golonka is our project coordinator for northern Alberta. She organizes and runs workshops, farm field days and webinars and she is working with a community group in her hometown of Athabasca to develop a community renewable energy project. Marie lives on a 10-acre homestead surrounded by the Boreal Forest near Jackfish Lake with her husband and her son. They are currently living in and restoring the original homestead log cabin on the property and are in the process of converting it to a fully off-grid accommodation.

RR2CS BONUS EPISODE: The Coordinators

You’ve heard us say on more than one occasion “what’s good for the farm is usually good for the climate.” In this episode, Darrin Qualman, Director of Climate Crisis Policy & Action at the National Farmers Union (NFU) takes a different approach to our beloved one-liner: we can tackle the farm income crisis and the climate crisis at the same time.

Take a deep dive with Darrin into the challenges agricultural producers in Canada face to stay profitable in light of increasing costs, the challenges rural communities face to keep people on the land and the challenges agriculture faces to reduce its carbon footprint. Fortunately, as Darrin explains in this episode, many if not all of these challenges are connected, meaning a solution for one can help in overcoming the others. Some examples of the solutions discussed in this episode are reducing chemical inputs, rotational grazing, reducing food miles and participating in what Darrin describes as the “soil health bonanza.”

Our podcast host uses this conversation with Darrin about the Tackling the Farm Crisis and Climate Crisis report to stitch together an 8-point ‘climate farm plan’ that may give you some ideas for your farm or ranch. (Note: our podcast host is not a policy analyst and really should just stick to podcasting, so take his 8-point plan with a grain of salt).

HIGHLIGHTS:

13:12 – How the Tackling the Farm Crisis and the Climate Crisis report came about.

18:10 – Why the family farm matters.

25:35 – Darrin explains his statement “agriculture does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, agricultural inputs produce greenhouse gas emissions.”

32:00 – Reducing methane emissions.

39:54 – Reducing nitrous oxide emissions.

50:34 – Why tackling the climate crisis can help us tackle the farm income crisis.

01:17:08 – Governments can help set the tone for wider adoption of climate-friendly agriculture.

01:26:07 – Our podcast host asks Darrin: “How big of a paradigm shift is this going to be for agriculture?”

 ALBERTA AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Courtney van Assem and Vaudet Dairy (Ferintosh)
https://rr2cs.ca/investing-in-solar-energy-for-tomorrow/

Janice Shelton and Sand Springs Ranch (Lac La Biche)
https://rr2cs.ca/organic-biodynamic-biodiverse-farming-sand-springs-ranch-lac-la-biche-ab/

Northern Lights Fruits & Vegetable Co. (Manning)
https://rr2cs.ca/low-carbon-market-gardening-in-northern-alberta/

The Kenyons and Greener Pastures Ranching (Busby)
https://rr2cs.ca/regenerative-farming-greener-pastures-ranching/

USEFUL LINKS:

NFU’s Near-Zero Emission Farm report (2021)
https://www.nfu.ca/imagine-if-report-2021/

NFU’s Tackling the Farm Crisis and the Climate Crisis report (2019)
https://www.nfu.ca/publications/tackling-the-farm-crisis-and-the-climate-crisis/

Environmental Farm Plan
https://www.albertaefp.com/

The 4 R’s
https://nutrientstewardship.org/4rs/

Brief explainer on how methane breaks down
http://www.ces.fau.edu/nasa/module-4/causes/methane-carbon-dioxide.php

Farmers for Climate Solutions federal budget 2021 recommendations
https://farmersforclimatesolutions.ca/budget-2021-recommendation

Tony Neale and his electric tractor
https://rr2cs.ca/ep28-electric-tractor/

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

After listening to this episode, we recommend downloading Episode 29 and this Bonus Episode to learn more about national efforts to create supports and programs for climate-friendly agriculture in Canada. To learn more about what a climate-compatible cattle sector could look like listen to Episode 1: Cows and Climate Change and Episode 24: AMP Grazing (read the NFU’s report too). For ideas to reduce chemical inputs, we recommend listening to Episode 34: Intercropping and Episode 21: Perennial Grain. And lastly, if you want to take a deep dive into the soil carbon science try Episode 31, Episode 20, Episode 17 and Episode 11. We have some great reads on the Farmer’s Blog too!

RR2CS Season 3 - Episode 37: Climate Farm Plan

Agricultural producer Jianyi Dong talks design, growing potential and extending the growing season with his commercial passive solar greenhouse in Olds, Alberta.

RR2CS Episode 38: Passive Solar Greenhouse 2.0

There’s an interesting demographic shift going in agriculture right now. The agricultural population is drastically shrinking—right now there is 62% less agricultural producers in Canada than there was fifty years ago. Out on the Prairies, farms and ranches are becoming fewer (in Alberta, 34% less than in 1966) and larger (farms that are 5,000 acres or more account for almost half the acres underproduction in Alberta). On top of that, agricultural land ain’t cheap.

And yet, there is a growing group of people in Alberta who are getting involved in agriculture even though they weren’t raised on a farm or ranch. They are motivated to do good for food, communities and the planet and they see agriculture as a hands on way to do all of the above. We call these people new farmers.

If there is one person in Alberta who has put in the most work to get new farmers out on the land, it is Dana Penrice. Originally from Lacombe, currently farming in Manitoba, Dana is the Prairies Program Manager for Young Agrarians, a coordinator for Holistic Management Canada and an adviser to Rural Routes to Climate Solutions. Dana and Young Agrarians have worked tirelessly over the years to help new and aspiring agricultural producers get trained up in agriculture and get access to land.

In this episode, Dana and our podcast host explore the idea that if the vast majority of new farmers want to practice some form of climate-friendly agriculture (89% according to a 2015 national survey), are new farmers actually a farm solution that is also a climate solution?

Unexpectedly, during recording this episode went in a lot of different directions and tackled quite a few big issues like rethinking land access, truth and reconciliation and agriculture, finding a new term for ‘agricultural producer’ and the need for a paradigm shift in agriculture. We decided it was best to break the recording into two episodes.

In Part One, Dana’s sets the stage by explaining the obstacles new agricultural producers face when trying to get involved in agriculture. In Part Two, Dana goes over how we can unleash new agricultural producers as a farm solution that is also a climate solution out on the Prairies.

USEFUL LINKS:

Young Agrarians
https://youngagrarians.org/

Holistic Management Canada
http://holisticmanagement.ca/

National new farmer survey (2015)
https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/288/296
https://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/foodsecurecanada.org/files/key_findings_nnfc_national_survey.pdf

Macleans’ article on the plight of agricultural producers during the hard years in the ’80’s
https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1987/5/4/down-and-out-on-the-farm

Prices for agricultural land in Alberta in 2020
https://www.albertafarmexpress.ca/news/up-up-up-farmland-prices-take-another-big-jump/

Report examining the growth of larger farms and ranches in the Prairies
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Saskatchewan%20Office%2C%20Manitoba%20Office/2020/11/Farmland%20Concentration.pdf

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

After listening to this episode, we recommend downloading and listening to Episode 33 with Ash Armstrong of Armstrong Acres and Curt Hale of Maverick Livestock, Episode 30 with Misamaaki and Api’soomaahka of Kainai First Nation, Episode 27 with Mary and Peter Lundgard of Nature’s Way Farm, Episode 25 with Don Ruzicka (retired owner of Sunrise Farm) and Episode 9 with Amber Kenyon, Heather Kerschbaumer and Kris Vester to learn more about the innovative agricultural producers and land stewards in Alberta who are putting farm solutions that are climate solutions into action. Our Farmer’s Blog is also the go-to source for stories of producers in Alberta who are going the extra mile with their management practices for the land, food and their communities.

RR2CS Episode 39: New Farmers Part 1

Two great Prairies podcasts join forces in this special bonus episode on a $300 million investment into climate-friendly agriculture in Canada.

Karen Ross, an agricultural producer in Quebec and the Director of Farmers for Climate Solutions, discusses what carefully designed federal-provincial programs could do to help on-farm income, reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint and showcase those producers across Canada who have been doing great things for the land for years.

Big thank you to the Manitoba-based podcast Grain on the Brain for producing and editing this episode.

USEFUL LINKS:

Federal budget 2021 recommendations
https://farmersforclimatesolutions.ca/budget-2021-recommendation

RR2CS BONUS EPISODE:  The $300 Dollar Investment

Episode description coming soon. In the meantime, have a listen!

RR2CS Episode 40: Grazing For Water Infiltration

Biodiversity is an integral part of agriculture. Corrina Copp of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute explains why maintaining biodiversity is so important and how agricultural producers and other citizen scientists can monitor in Alberta.

RR2CS EPISODE 3: Farming With  Biodiversity Part 1

Listen to lawyer, author, rancher and sustainable meat advocate Nicolette Hahn Niman explain how better management practices may be the key to reducing cattle's carbon footprint.  Download the podcast episode here: www.rr2cs.ca

RR2CS EPISODE 1: Cows And Climate Change

Three agricultural producers were asked in the winter of 2018 to explain how they would adapt their land management practices to a changing climate in Alberta. Listen to what they had to say. Featuring Amber Kenyon, Kris Vester and Heather Kerschbaumer.

RR2CS Episode 9 Adaptive Agriculture

Alberta has a pretty darn short growing season. Greenhouses are a must if you are vegetable producer out here. The cost of operating a greenhouse during the hard winters we have out on the Prairies can be quite, well, painful. On top of that, you’ll likely have to burn some sort of fossil fuel like natural gas or use electricity to get your seeds to germinate and keep your seedlings nice and warm on the inside of your greenhouse. There is another way though, but it does involve rethinking how we think of greenhouse growing. Passive solar greenhouses, if done right, require no external energy inputs like natural gas or electricity, but instead use the warmth of the sun, thermal mass and a lot of insulation to grow vegetables. This design helps to dramatically decrease your heating bill and the carbon footprint of what you are producing. 

In this episode, Daniel Chappell, a professional horticulturist, instructor at Olds College and farm manger at Shirley’s Greenhouse in Didsbury takes you through what can and cannot be produced in a passive solar greenhouse and how to design and operate this type of set up.

Want to learn more after listening to this episode? Register for our Passive Solar Greenhouse WEBINAR with Daniel Chappell of Olds College this winter. Go to our website for details: www.rr2cs.ca

RR2CS Episode 14: Passive Solar Greenhouse

Farm solutions = climate solutions. This podcast comes straight out of Alberta—one of Canada’s biggest agricultural and energy producers—and dives into the technology and practices that are both good for the farm and good for the climate.

Podcast Trailer - Rural Routes to Climate Solutions

Longtime Woman (Lori Brave Rock) and Running Coyote (William Singer III) of the Kainai Ecosystem Protection Association (KEPA) tell their stories and the stories of the native plants of Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) territory. From wild turnip to Indian breadroot, from nodding onion to saskatoons and wild peppermint every plant has a story and in the Niitsitapi worldview you cannot know the plants without knowing their stories.

This is probably the most culturally unique episode we have done yet. A lot of topics are covered in this one that we do not normally cover like colonization, Indian Residential Schools and life on a reserve, but through this journey we learned valuable cultural lessons and about the native plants of southern Alberta and recorded stories that warm the heart.

 

Highlights:

(18:20) Experiments in “Blackfoot horticulture”, which is a relatively new thing and building a seed bank.

(23:44) Working with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) to incorporate land-based teachings into the first-year culinary program.

(26:30) Many of the native plants used in Niitsitapi culture have both traditional and medicinal uses.

(32:30) Changes to the Niitsitapi diet after colonization.

(42:00) Water is big limiting factor in growing vegetables on reserve.

(50:30) “We can’t waste time.” Native plants are dwindling on the reserve so there is no time to waste in order conserve them.

(54:30) Spread of leafy spurge on and off the reserve.

(56:30) Cultural connections to native plants –“literally all of our lives are tied to the land” as Indigenous People.

(1:03:00) Why William and Lori are happy to share their knowledge and stories with Indigenous and non-Indigenous People.

(1:10:30) How William became the “plants guy” as our host puts it.

(1:14:50) How climate change is impacting their work.

(1:20:00) Native plants that William and Lori want to try out in the greenhouse.

Useful Links:

William Singer’s artwork and stories (e.g. the bison story Derek tells). Click here.

Kainai Ecosystem Protection Association
https://www.facebook.com/Kainai-Ecosystem-Protection-Association-KEPA-1428056414162724/

Dr. Leroy Little Bear
https://www.lieutenantgovernor.ab.ca/aoe/education/leroy-little-bear/index.html

Indian Residential Schools
https://nctr.ca/map.php

Xeriscaping
https://oldmanwatershed.ca/what-is-xeriscaping

Kainai First Nation
https://bloodtribe.org/

Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy)
https://bloodtribe.org/

Native plants in Alberta
https://anpc.ab.ca/

Treaty 7
http://makingtreaty7.com/about-making-treaty-7/

Want to learn more? Listen to our 'Farm Elders' series and hear the stories of agricultural producers Don Ruzicka (EP25) and Mary and Peter Lungard (EP27) and their connection to the land.

RR2CS Episode 30: Native Plants

Intercropping can potentially result in higher yields, healthier soil and less chemical inputs, which likely results in a more resilient farm. Dr. Eric Bremer explains in this episode.

RR2CS Episode 34: Intercropping

Steve Heckeroth, designer of tractors that run entirely off of batteries and founder of the California-based electric tractor company Solectrac, explains why tractors are the ideal electric vehicle.

RR2CS Episode 35: Electric Tractor - Part Two

The national coalition Farmers for Climate Solutions has released five recommendations for both covid-19 recovery in the agriculture sector and building climate resilience in the sector. We read the report.

Read the report:
https://farmersforclimatesolutions.ca/policy-solutions

RR2CS Bonus Episode: Covid-19 Recovery in the Agriculture Sector

Rural Routes to Climate Solutions is a central Alberta-based project providing opportunities for agricultural producers to learn how to benefit from climate solutions. Along with our podcast, we run workshops and farm field days to show how farm solutions are also climate solutions.

Rural Routes to Climate Solutions

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