Using a full systems approach is helpful to pasture management because it looks at the environment and economics
This year’s Western Canadian Conference on Soil Health and Grazing takes place Dec. 10-12 in Edmonton. It’s theme: A path to resilience, healthy soil, plants, economics and people.
As of late October, conference registration was 80 per cent sold.
“We’ve seen a transition over the years. It’s partly like an evolution, I guess, through the industry as well as our conference,” said Laura Gibney, manager of the Foothills Forage and Grazing Association and chair of this year’s event.
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She said ranchers originally viewed themselves as beef producers, but over time began to think of themselves as grass producers and grass farmers. That developed into more interest in soil health and its influence.
“I think we’re at the point now where we realize how complex the system is, and trying to look at a full systems approach, not just the environmental side, but your actual business. You need to have those healthy soils, to have those healthy plants, to have the healthy economics, and none of it runs if you don’t have healthy people,” said Gibney.
That includes nutrition and health, staffing and work-life balance.
“We’re really trying to bring that together. With the regenerative movement, a lot of people have been doing a lot of great things and have been trying a lot of great things, but at the end of the day, we need to make sure the economics don’t get forgotten, because you can’t run a very successful business if you don’t have that.”
Gibney said there is more interest in regenerative agriculture now because of high input costs. It may not be mainstream, but many producers are interested.
“People are seeing the benefits of it, but also the challenges, and want to navigate it.”
The conference takes place every second year and admits 525 people. That includes speakers, sponsors, the planning committee and producers.
“Last year, attendance was made up of 75 per cent producer attendees, which we’re really proud of,” said Gibney.
Conference organizers considered a larger venue, but feedback last year indicated that attendees favoured a smaller conference to better facilitate networking. The trade show is fully sold out again, as it was when the conference was last held in 2022.
The event is organized by 10 of the applied agricultural research associations in the province. Nora Paulovich, former leader of the North Peace Applied Research Association, serves as the conference executive director.
“We do really try to emphasize having producer input in the agenda each year to try to make sure we’re staying relevant and current and hitting topics that are important to people,” said Gibney.
“We are sticking to a similar format, where we focus more on soil health the first day, and try to incorporate a bit more of your grain cropping.”
The second day is focused on soil health and grazing and the third is focussed on grazing. Science panels will be held in the morning and producer panels will take place at the end of the first two days.
“We worked really hard to bring speakers from all over,” said Gibney. “We’re pretty excited about the lineup.”
Researchers and other speakers will come from across Canada and the United States. Banquet speaker Anneline Padayachee of Australia is a human health nutritionist known globally for speaking about the importance of agriculture and the importance of meat in the human diet.
Gibney said the conference committee is trying to bring science and practical applications together so people can learn about opportunities and consider possibilities for their own farms and ranches.
Conference recordings will be available for purchase for those who can’t attend in person. Information about prices to attend the conference can be found at absoilgrazing.com.
