Canadian Forage and Grassland Association Project Updates

Posted by: EcoServices Network 3 years ago

The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association has had a busy spring wrapping up a number of projects, preparing for a new round of projects and planning for its 12^th annual conference. Here are a few of the highlights:

Save the Date

CFGA 2021 conference planning is well underway. The conference, Forage Landscape Synergies, will be delivered virtually December 14 to 16 in partnership with its Quebec provincial forage association, Conseil québécois des plantes fourragères. Presentations will be offered in both English and French and cover a variety of topics including the progressive Quebec forage and grassland sector, sustainability, data management, high performance forage management, the forage export market and ecological services and grasslands ecosystems.

AGGP Project Wraps Up

The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association held a virtual wrap-up session to report on its four-year Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program (AGGP) project. Designed to align with the CFGA’s priorities, the project has supported Forage Expert Committee engagement at the CFGA Annual Conference and at other meetings throughout the years as well as achieve a number of deliverables, including:

• building out the current state of science around carbon sequestration and what it means for best management practices (BMP) for the sector
• building out the carbon sequestration protocol for Canadian forage production systems
• developing a BMP guide for enhancing carbon storage in forage systems to help growers implement BMPs on the landscape and
• to pilot the protocol development on Canadian farms

“We wanted to do what we could to provide a foundation for discussion on how the grassland sector can play a role in primarily delivering carbon offsets to market and to drive the high-performance forage management concept,” says Cedric MacLeod, CFGA executive director.

BMP Manual Published

Forage Best Management Practices for Enhancing Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration is one of the deliverables. Including a comprehensive explanation of carbon trading, this manual is a practical, straightforward document outlining BMPs farmers and ranchers can implement to enhance and maximize soil carbon sequestration. The BMP manual is available at www.canadianfga.ca.

Recordings of all of the presentations made at the wrap-up session, including reports on the Canadian Grasslands Protocol, the BMP Manual, participating CFGA provincial members’ AGGP pilot projects, carbon market needs and opportunities, market trends and what’s next now that the AGGP project is complete, can be found here.

New Website

The CFGA recently launched a newly designed website that offers a number of valuable resources, including the BMP Manual, past newsletters and media releases, project information and information for exporters and buyers, including links for buying and selling hay. Visit the website www.canadianfga.ca to check it out and sign up for updates.