Sustainable Grazing Mentorship program
Project Facts
- Canadian Cattlemen's Association(CCA)).
- Majority of funding from federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Case overview/description
private land - crown grazing land on long term leases to producers
- experienced grazers
- provincial partners: primarily forage councils, with existing expertise in extension and technology transfer and passion and knowledge of grass management.
- Management practices based on existing science knowledge
- Mentorship manual encouraged a national approach to mentoring
Outcome/ Beneficiaries/ Issues
Each year of the program, mentors were brought together to share issues and successes.
- Perception grazing is easy. Do with no thought or planning
- Belief high tech is only exciting approach to increasing agricultural productivity
- Lack of balance between productivity and provision of ecosystem services
- Lack of continued financial support. Government program support declines as priorities change with economic conditions and political priorities. Corporate support focus on crops that require purchase of inputs
- Mentoring decreases time lag between management practice
awareness and implementation
- Understanding each ranch and farm is unique combination of natural, human, and financial resources making it necessary to apply different management practices for each one.
- Experienced graziers (mentors) worked with producers to
identify options on how to change management practices to
benefit producers economically and environmentally
- Assisting one producer to make change provides opportunity for their neighbours to mimic success
- Report success based on acreage influenced as opposed to numbers of producers signed up
- Sustainable grazing supports biodiversity which may lead to payments for ecological services
- Maybe the greatest benefit a mentor can bring to a producer especially in hard times is the recognition there are factors within their control.
- Carbon sequestration – native/natural forage species
- Mapping of native/natural areas
- Biodiversity index
- Valuation of ecosystem services such as water quality and pollination
- cattle farming
- Overall project management and institutional strengthening
- Natural resource management