While regenerative agriculture can (and should) look different for every operation, the business case and value proposition for replicating and growing its adoption is increasingly garnering interest from a diversity of groups within and beyond the food system. Many now acknowledge its potential to help address several sustainability crises by sequestering carbon, supporting climatic, environmental and economic health and creating employment and business opportunities. However, scaling the practice continues to face many obstacles. Phase 2 of our Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL) aims to convene ~35 committed producers, industry leaders, food distributors and retailers, academics, policymakers and innovative thinkers in general to work together to learn and take action on initiatives that respond to the question:
How might we grow Alberta's regenerative agriculture system in a way that preserves its integrity, while maximizing the positive social, environmental, and economic impacts for communities?
In Alberta, regenerative agriculture is primarily a grassroots movement of small-to-medium operations trying to grow their foothold in a sector where just the economics can keep many from transitioning to regenerative practices as well as diminish the attractiveness for younger generations. Even as new levels of collaboration with large-scale food companies and companies in other industries present new opportunities to mainstream the field, skepticism remains about potential greenwashing and fragmentation persists across the sector about what must define “good” as regenerative scales and what will ultimately define “value”. With so many economic and environmental benefits at stake, this is the right time and place to forge a collective path forward.
The Regenerative Agriculture Lab aims to respond to the timely opportunity to…
For more information, please contact Shiana at syounger @ stettlerlearning.com.
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Cyrus and Roy Weasel Fat of Kainai First Nation share their success story of farming and ranching on the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta.
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Co-operatives have a long history in Alberta of getting the job done. We ask Rod Olson of YYC Growers if co-ops can assist in advancing regenerative agriculture in the province.
Tim Wray grew up on his family’s cattle ranch in Irricana, a small town located 50 kilometres northeast of Calgary in southern Alberta. As a child, he always dreamed of following in his parent’s footsteps and one day becoming a farmer, but first he pursued post-secondary education and later studied at a seminary to become a pastor. His first parish was located in a small agricultural community, which put him back in touch with his childhood dream.
“I lived around farmland and was surrounded by farmers,” says Tim. “I was really in tune with the movement of the seasons and the farm cycle—and I enjoyed that.”
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The conclusion of our conversation with Dana Penrice of Young Agrarians on how new and aspiring farmers and ranchers can be a farm solution that is also a climate solution.
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Dana Penrice of Young Agrarians discusses how new and aspiring agricultural producers are a farm solution and a climate solution that could do a lot good on the Prairies.
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Darrin Qualman of the National Farmers Union takes us through a set of recommendations for building thriving farms and ranches and reducing agriculture’s carbon footprint.
