Canadian researchers, farmers and agrologists say support for soil research and for projects that promote conservation tillage are threatened by a lack of foresight and lack of money.
Those attending the Knowledge Impact in Society conference on conservation tillage and direct seeding in Saskatoon discussed the history of conservation tillage and its future.
Richard Gray, an agricultural economist with the University of Saskatchewan, said research funding is inadequate for conservation tillage and many other areas of agriculture in Western Canada.
He said funding by governments is focused on five-year time frames, which encourages short-term results.
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“And farmer (commodity) check-off funding is tied to marketed farm products,” he said.
That restricts commodity groups when it comes to funding research that isn’t directly related to their commodity.
“Issues related to processes, like soil or water conservation, fall between the funding cracks,” said Gray.
Agrologist Blair McClinton heads the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association.
“(Canadian soil conservation associations) have been so reliant on public (government) sources of funding that it is very difficult to be independent in our research directions.”
McClinton said new ways have to be found to fund research into such topics as soil or water conservation.
Garry Meier, who farms near Ridge-dale, Sask., said the current research funding format has created a system that could not have developed the conservation tillage systems that farmers rely on and several western Canadian equipment manufacturers businesses are centered around.
McClinton suggested that Canadians examine other research funding models for possible solutions.
In Australia the Grains Research Development Corp. has a model that collects check-off funding from nearly every grain and oilseed crop.
The GRDC model collects .99 percent on the value of 24 crops, except corn, which is .693 percent, and that is matched by the Australian government up to .5 percent of gross value of those crops.
“That system creates an opportunity to fund research like conservation tillage, something that is widely adopted by all farmers and important to all of them,” he said.
Saskatchewan economist Murray Fulton said the challenge for funding research into conservation tillage requires forward thinking government and farmers.
“Fifty years ago conservation tillage was the best of ideas.”
He said in 20 years some practices in use today will likely be dropped.
“And what will our research be delivering to us (to keep us competitive)?” he said.
Julian Dumanski, a retired federal research scientist and World Bank consultant, said lack of public awareness of the value of agriculture is creating part of the funding problem.
He said Canadian farmer organizations need to be better funded by governments so they can address issues such as land use, water quality and rural and agricultural sustainability.
