WINNIPEG – The survival of agriculture is crucial to managing the environment, the sixth Prairie Conservation and Endangered Species Conference was told recently.
Robert Sopuck, a farmer and consultant from Lake Audy, Man., told scientists, academics, habitat managers and policy makers attending the conference that farms are more than food factories.
“Farmers are important stewards of our land and water,” he said, adding they produce clean water and air and contribute to environmental biodiversity.
Rural issues
While billed as a conference to discuss conservation, habitat and management, the three-day event took an in-depth look at challenges facing rural society across the Prairies.
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David Gauthier, a geography professor from the University of Regina, said sustainable rural communities must be maintained because people and society are part of the ecosystem.
Rural populations are on a trajectory of decline, he added, with 81 percent of prairie population now living in urban areas.
He said it’s not fair to ask farmers who are already facing difficult economic pressures to bear the costs of environmental stewardship.
Conference speakers said the cost can be eased if many conservation partners target rural sustainability and involve rural people.
The Green Banks program is an example. The conservation program helps farmers increase profits through improved management techniques.
Conservationist David Neave said taking a long-term approach could solve the dilemma facing rural society.
“We need to take a landscape approach to management. We’re not managing ecosystems, but we are managing human activity.”
