(submitted photo/Erika Rolling)

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

ABP looking for Peace Country ranchers for a living labs research project

Oct 14, 2022 | 9:00 AM

Grande Prairie, Alta., – Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) is looking for ranchers from the Peace Country to take part in its living labs research project.

Living labs include producer expertise and ABP wants to look at best practices for climate resiliency.

Lead in beef production and extension Karin Schmid said there are several ways ranchers can help.

“This would be helpful for us if they’re interested in potentially obtaining data on the impacts of a practice change, validating how certain practices might improve productivity and/or profitability or environmental benefits, maybe even explore the integration of crop and livestock production systems,” Schmid said.

Schmid said this is also a chance for producers to work on existing practices or try new ones with the help of experts and learn from other ranchers.

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She adds there are several key areas of focus.

“Cropping systems and crop rotations, land use changes, nutrient and fertilizer management, grazing management and livestock feeding and optimizing carbon storage, which is more about recognizing that a piece of land doesn’t store carbon the same everywhere and seeing if there are opportunities to optimize where that carbon is storage occurs on a landscape,” she said.

Schmid said they would need some data but there are researchers that can do that. She added there would not be many interruptions to day-to-day operations except when whatever practice being looked at is implemented.

She added they want to measure the benefits of practices in what she calls “real-life situations” rather than in a lab.

“What are the impacts in terms of productivity, profitability, and potentially environmental benefits like reduction in greenhouse gas emissions or increasing carbon sequestration from adoption of some of these practices that we think should have an effect, but we maybe don’t really know what their impacts are in different geographies, under different production systems and different types of management,” she said.

Schmid said they would like to have 15 ranchers from across the Peace take part.

Anyone interested can check here. There is also a webinar on Monday, Oct. 17 where producers can learn more.