鈥楽top fighting Mother Nature.鈥� How farmers adapt to extreme weather.
| Strathclair, Manitoba
Zack Koscielny has only been in charge of livestock and crops for four years, but the freckled farmer has already become accustomed to successive dry spells, including one last year that put large swaths of the Canadian prairies in exceptional drought.
Then, this season, Manitoba was hit by a major spring blizzard and several Colorado lows that have caused flooding in the Red River Valley and brought unseasonably cold, damp weather that has delayed planting across the province.聽
鈥淭he weather鈥檚 been crazy,鈥� says Mr. Koscielny on a chilly spring day on the fields of Green Beach Farm in Strathclair, three hours northwest of Winnipeg.
Why We Wrote This
Parched, powdery soil does not absorb water quickly. So whether the challenge is drought or floods 鈥� and lately it鈥檚 been both of those 鈥� farmers are tying their own resilience to that of their soil.
The uncertainty would be enough to deter most starting out. But Mr. Koscielny instead has decided to reimagine his family鈥檚 fourth-generation farm into something different in the prairies. Mimicking native prairie, his fields look 鈥渕essy鈥� as he intercrops instead of planting the tidy single crop fields of wheat and canola of his childhood. He puts his pigs and chickens out on the pasture and arranges for calves to be born outdoors, later in the season and far from a barn. It鈥檚 all an effort to restore the soil health here to buffer against the wild swings in weather 鈥� and the pessimism that prevails when it comes to the climate.
鈥淚t seems like a constant challenge with the weather. But I have a hard time blaming Mother Nature for it. That鈥檚 her job. And it鈥檚 our job to deal with it,鈥� he says, adjusting his baseball cap as he rotates his two dozen yearlings to a new pasture to avoid overgrazing. 鈥淚nstead of all this 鈥榳oe is me鈥� stuff, I think farmers have such an opportunity if they manage land properly and stop fighting Mother Nature.鈥澛�
Mr. Koscielny鈥檚 approach is part of a global movement known as 鈥渞egenerative agriculture,鈥� a sweeping term that entails the many ways farmers can restore and nourish ecosystems while also growing food. For years now, a small but increasing number of producers have been turning away from the traditional, linear supply chain approach to agriculture in favor of the way Mr. Koscielny is farming, using techniques such as rotational grazing, cover cropping, or even growing trees in pastureland.聽
Supporters say this form of agriculture leads to both better products and healthier soils. It also, according to a growing body of research, helps farmers both fight climate change and adapt to the extreme weather events caused by it.
Big stakes for global climate
Although it鈥檚 tricky to calculate exact numbers, groups such as estimate that agriculture and land use are responsible for about a quarter of the world鈥檚 greenhouse emissions. And in Canada and the United States, government agencies put the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions caused by agriculture alone at around 10% 鈥� a figure advocates say may be conservative. Regenerative practices, on the other hand, can turn agriculture into a climate solution, in part by storing more carbon in the soil. Project Drawdown, for instance, estimated that regenerative agriculture could have a greater climate solution impact than either electric cars or geothermal heating.
But as important to Mr. Koscielny and his fellow farmers is how it can help protect against climate extremes. Thanks to everything from healthier bacteria and microbes within the soil ecosystem to deeper root systems, land tended by regenerative agriculture practices has the ability to hold more water.聽
鈥淧eople who are doing regenerative practices are experiencing much lower drought impacts because they have soils that are better at retaining moisture overall,鈥� says Cathy Day, climate policy coordinator for the National Sustainable Agriculture Commission in Washington.
And that matters here.
The prairies, home to 80% of Canada鈥檚 farmland, have grappled with drought for centuries. But scientists predict even drier conditions 鈥� alongside the kind of flooding that has put farms under water in southern Manitoba this spring 鈥� as a new norm in prairie life. This year, a report from the United Nations鈥� Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change zeroed in on the world鈥檚 agricultural systems, saying that global warming is already threatening food sources around the world, and that extreme weather will be the new normal for farmers.
The risk to North American topsoil
For farms across the North American Wheat Belt, the drought-flood cycle is particularly damaging. Parched, powdery soil does not absorb water quickly, so the water from torrential rains tends to rush across the surface, carrying even more topsoil away. That鈥檚 what has happened in the American Midwest over recent years, where farmers accustomed to predictable rainfall patterns have suffered ruined fields and crops from both dry spells and extreme rains.聽
Here in Manitoba, last year鈥檚 drought caused several municipalities to declare agricultural disaster in the prairies. Farmer Larry Wegner in Virden, Manitoba, says he had to plan for raising fewer cattle to have enough forage through the winter, and he expects to face such decisions more frequently. 鈥淚n the prairies we鈥檙e going to see milder weather, so more water running in wintertime, which is rare for this part of the world. And we鈥檙e going to see drier summers. So we have to start thinking, how do I start planning ahead for that to make it better?鈥�
Those questions will be centerstage at the Manitoba Forage & Grassland Association conference in November on regenerative agriculture 鈥� the fifth they鈥檒l have held. The meeting will bring in experts to discuss ways to improve soil health so that the ground holds more water in periods of heavy rainfall, and so there are reserves from wetlands聽in times of drought.聽
The principles behind regenerative agriculture date back centuries, to聽the way Indigenous peoples grew food before industrial agriculture. But it can be hard for farmers to transform their methods, says Brenda Tjaden, founder of the Manitoba consultancy Sustainable Grain. Farmers鈥� fields might look 鈥渕essier,鈥� she says. There is currently no certification like a green label, since regenerative agricultural practices is a systems-based approach to land management so is harder to measure. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 follow a particular regime,鈥� she says. 鈥淎re there waterways close by? Are there any grasslands? Are there any trees in the vicinity?鈥�
Indeed, one of the characteristics of regenerative agriculture is that it is place specific, says Lara Bryant, deputy director for water and agriculture with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Working in harmony with a wet, southeastern U.S. ecosystem is far different from what a farmer would do in the dry Southwest, or the drought- and flood-battered Grain Belt.聽
That鈥檚 one of the reasons why, in a report her organization released in April, Ms. Bryant recommended increased policy support for regenerative agriculture training and mentorship, as well as increased financial support.
鈥淲e need to increase the support to farmers and ranchers at the beginning level,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd our policies need to not get in the way of regenerative agriculture.鈥�
鈥淪urprised how much progress we鈥檝e made鈥�
Mr. Koscielny grew up ecologically minded. His parents, who farmed part time, were long driven by locally grown food 鈥� a lunch spread around their table included garden-fresh salsa and purple potato and squash soups. They鈥檝e watched the farms grow around them and an industry demanding 鈥渂igger, bigger, bigger,鈥� says his mother,聽Karen Gamey-Koscielny, whose family settled this farm in 1919.聽
鈥淏ut if you don鈥檛 have good soil, you鈥檝e got nothing,鈥� says her husband, Jason Koscielny.聽
Their son Zack says that, when it came to choosing a career after earning a degree in agroecology at the University of Manitoba, he had no intention of going into monoculture-style grain production.
Instead he runs 鈥渇ive quarters,鈥� or 800 acres, that has seen Timothy grass and a variety of vetches return. With big cracks forming on his hills last year, the rains this year are not replenished 鈥渂y any stretch,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e just surprised how much progress we鈥檝e made. And even with the dry conditions we鈥檝e added animals every year of the drought.鈥�
Regenerative agriculture, he says, is first off a practical measure to reduce inputs and increase margins. But it also digs deeper. 鈥淚t鈥檚 rewarding to be doing a job that can really be making a big difference on such a huge issue that most people just say, 鈥榃ell, I don鈥檛 know how we鈥檒l ever address that,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e front and center as far as having the ability to make change and make the difference.鈥�
Stephanie Hanes contributed to this article from Northampton, Massachusetts.
