Thinking outside the box | Organization urges developing countries to experiment with new farming methods
Teaching neat prairie tricks like conservation tillage is a great way to help farmers in developing nations protect their precious farmland.
But an even more valuable prairie asset for overseas farmers in poor and challenging circumstances is the spirit of inventiveness, says the executive director of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
“We’re really trying to encourage farmers to see themselves as not only receivers of knowledge but also as innovators, as generators of knowledge,” said Jim Cornelius in an interview at the Winnipeg Foodgrains office.
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“How do we support them in that, and make that a virtuous cycle?”
The Canadian Foodgrains Bank is well known for its role in getting food to people in areas of hunger.
Sometimes that food has come directly from the Prairies and sometimes it has been purchased overseas, but most of it has been paid for by farmer contributions of either money or crop.
The organization also supports extension work, helping small farmers develop their skills and systems to provide more food for themselves and protect their land from degradation.
Much of the developing world faces environmental challenges that can lead to soil erosion if not addressed properly, such as the threatened zone of the Sahel on the southern fringes of the Sahara desert.
Those are areas where farming techniques from the western Prairies can be adapted and used, since prairie farmers have long dealt with treacherously dry conditions and the constant risk of soil erosion.
More than the specific methods, Cornelius hopes that the Foodgrains Bank can help farmers in developing nations to embrace the culture of invention seen across the Prairies. The methods used in Canada were often developed by farmers themselves. There’s no reason other farmers can’t be equally innovative.
“It took experimentation and innovation by some to figure out how to make it work and get the support systems in place. Then the adoption can come fairly quickly,” said Cornelius.
“We’re really trying to encourage farmers to see themselves as not only receivers of knowledge but as innovators, as generators of knowledge.”
There are areas of hunger and famine now, but there are fewer than in the past, said Cornelius. That’s a testament to the development and stabilization work done by many organizations and developing nations.
With a combination of internal development and education, hunger should be further pushed back, Cornelius hopes.
However, climate change threatens to reverse that improvement.
“You don’t go anywhere in Africa where the people don’t say the climate’s changing,” said Cornelius.
“It seems extreme environments are the first to feel effects, just like our North.”
Farmers could face more droughts, more floods, more volatility and political instability if climate change increases, so helping overseas farmers develop farming techniques like conservation agriculture that will protect their soils is one of the key ways to help protect threatened areas against famine.
“We see that as one of the adaptations that’s really going to be important for helping communities adapt to the changing climate patterns that they’re facing,” said Cornelius.
