Serving the producers of the Northwest
FARMER
North Battleford, Saskatchewan
RancheR
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Reaping the Bounty
The push is on the get the 2018 crop into the bins and grain bags. At this hectic time on the land, a safety message is offered. SaskPower reports 18 cases of farm machinery coming into contact with electrical equipment in August. SaskPower reminds producers to take the time this harvest season to identify overhead power lines and to plan ahead when moving equipment. Photo by Cameron Scherman
Software educates on effects of ag. practices Staff
Greenhouse gas is a significant player in climate change and Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada scientists have developed a tool that helps mitigate agriculture’s contribution, according to a press release. Dr. Roland Kroebel is an AAFC ecosystem modeller in Lethbridge, Alta. Though he insists the credit is not his, Kroebel has played a key role in
developing the Holos software model from the beginning to its current third version. Holos helps producers make their agriculture operations more environmentally friendly by monitoring and adjusting farming practices to lessen greenhouse gases. “The idea of the model is to allow producers to play around with their management strategies and to see how that could lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions,” explains Kroebel. Kroebel says Holos is “an exploratory tool” and that “it’s meant as a gaming approach where a producer can try out different management practices that don’t necessarily have to be realistic.” The goal of the model is to gain understanding of the way the system reacts to management practices and is considered more of an educational tool than a deci-
sion maker, the release states. The Holos 3.0 came out in 2017. The updated version includes a partial economics component allowing farmers to monitor costs of different management practices. Kroebel says the model is still in a basic level of complexity and his team will continue working on improvements as they receive feedback from other research groups and stakeholders. One upgrade they’re looking
to make is to better match the economics of the model with the greenhouse gas emissions. “To give you an example, different ways of disposing of animal manure have different costs and emit different types and amounts of gas; but those costs don’t factor into the value of an animal. So the costs don’t discriminate in that way, but emissions do,” Kroebel explains. Continued on Page 2
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