A multi-million dollar investment into environmental research is one step taken by farm groups to clean up the Alberta water supply.
A study on the impact of agriculture on water showed definite links between the industry and the purity of the water. The public often blames the concentration of livestock operations in southern Alberta for a higher than normal incidence of giardia and cryptosporidium in the water supply.
As a pork producer, Roger Charbonneau wants people to know environmental concerns are the first research priority for intensive livestock producers.
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“Intensive livestock takes the heat because it is visible,” said Charbonneau, chair of the Alberta Pork Producers Development Corporation.
Beef and pork producers, as well as government, agree there has to be change dealing with manure. Some of the improvements are coming through an upgraded code of practice for the safe handling of animal manure. The province also announced stiffer regulations and enforcement to make sure operators abide by the rules.
One way to pay for water quality research is through industry development funds that must be spent by the year 2001. This is money left over from the national red meat tripartite stabilization subsidy program terminated two years ago.
The pork industry has $2.3 million and decided Jan. 28 on research priorities. This is over and above the $400,000 pork producers invest in research from check-off dollars collected on every hog sold.
Gary Sargent, manager of the Alberta Cattle Commission, said a large portion of the fund is targeting water studies.
The Alberta cattle industry received more than $16 million from the province and the federal governments. The federal contribution of $8.2 million is in lieu of money from the Net Stabilization Income Account, which the Alberta beef industry doesn’t participate in.
Of the number of projects approved by the commission, three studies will look directly at water problems.
The first is a $489,000 project to track microbes in feedlot manure. A unique project that tracks fecal coliforms in feedlots, the project leader is Jim Miller at the Lethbridge Research Centre.
“We’re trying to identify the actual bacterial species in the manure and whether they are being lost in surface runoff or leaching below a feedlot,” said Miller.
There are fecal coliforms in the water and no one knows what percentage come from beef cattle, he said.
“Any warm-blooded animal can contribute bacteria to the water including us. Even in areas of low agricultural activity they have high loads of bacteria,” said Miller.
Another project for $364,000 is examining the relationship between beef production and waterborne parasites like cryptosporidium and giardia in the North Saskatchewan River.
A third project that received $140,000 will look at methods to control cryptosporidium and giardia in beef cattle.
