With the help of a new computer program, Canadian producers will soon be able to calculate how much greenhouse gas (GHG) is coming from their farm.
The innovative computer model, called Holos, is an Agriculture Canada invention that will allow producers to link changes in farm practices to a specific amount of GHG reduction.
“One of the strengths of the program is that you can try several different options, what-if scenarios. It calculates it (GHG) on the whole farm, not just on one particular practice,” said Glen Shaw, executive director of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada, which announced Feb. 10 that it will test the effectiveness of Holos over the next 15 months.
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The idea, Shaw said, is to work with farmers across the country to collect data and get feedback on the usefulness of Holos.
The council was chosen to test the program because of its experience with agriculture and climate change, said Doug McKell, the group’s former executive director, who will co-ordinate the Holos project.
“We had run a program for five years … which was basically raising the awareness of climate change activities that farmers could take on to help with GHG mitigation,” McKell said.
Holos works by calculating GHG emissions based on a farmer’s management practices, such as established tillage practices, fertilizer use and perennial forage rotation.
“That would form the baseline … and then (the producer) could enter in some options or changes to make on the farm,” Shaw said.
“And it will calculate 10 years out what those changes in the operations are likely to reduce the GHG.”
Shaw said the program is designed for all farmers.
“It also covers livestock operations and dairy operation. It covers almost every farming operation in Canada.”
However, Shaw said the purpose of Holos isn’t to calculate carbon offsets but act as “an extension and awareness tool.”
Meanwhile, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee announced Feb. 9 the results of a study that should help American farmers cut their GHG emissions.
In a paper published in the Journal of Environmental Quality, researchers at Oak Ridge studied data from 1990-2004, to calculate energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions related to crop production on American farms.
The results confirmed what many already knew, that zero tillage significantly reduces CO2 emissions, according to a release summarizing the paper.
“Researchers found that on-site emissions can be reduced by half for some crops if farmers change from conventional tillage to no till.”
