Forage and beef website zeroes in on climate change

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

A website originally created as a “living library” of research and extension information for beef and forage producers has taken a turn for the greener.

The website, www.foragebeef.ca, now contains a great deal of material on climate change among the regular features and helpful tidbits it has always offered cattle producers.

Many see the addition of a “green” component as a natural fit for the website. There are clear links between agriculture and the environment, which are particularly strong in the forage and beef sectors.

Information has been developed into two new modules found on the site, entitled “Climate Change–Beef” and “Climate Change–Forage.” Both modules provide readers with a summary of data in the form of “Knowledge Nuggets,” as well as fact sheets and scientific papers outlining research done on the forage and beef industry as it relates to greenhouse gas emissions.

Attention to environmental issues is growing, and www.foragebeef.ca offers some interesting facts and useful advice to farmers in this area. For example, feeding better quality diets that include legumes rather than grasses will not only reduce the amount of feed required per animal, but also reduce the methane those animals produce and release in the digestion process. The result is a more efficient feeding regime that lowers the producer’s maintenance costs per animal, but is also friendlier to the environment.

“New topics are placed on the website all the time,” said Al Foster, a Forage Development Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF). “It’s one that producers should have bookmarked. They’ll find it to be a good summary of information on a number of forage and beef related topics.”

The website has been developed by several supporting partners, including the Alberta Beef Producers, the Canada Alberta Beef Research Centre, the Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Fund, AgricultureAlberta, SAF, Manitoba Agriculture, and the Matching Investment Initiatives Fund of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

The construction of www.foragebeef.ca took several years and involved over 50 AAFC research scientists, university researchers, and provincial forage and beef cattle extension specialists from across Canada. The group came together with the goal of bringing agricultural research closer to Canadian farmers. Their efforts have not gone unrewarded, netting them a major national AAFC award.

Foster says the wealth of knowledge, dedication, and hard work put into this project has paid off.

“The website provides producers with one stop for forage and beef information. It also includes updated news topics and announcements of things happening in the agricultural sector in and around Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba,” he noted.

“It’s important for Saskatchewan producers to view these updates regularly.”

Foster says producers will find the website has many valuable features. “A user-friendly internal search engine allows for quick and easy access to the wide variety of information on the site. As well, information is summarized in a logical outline and is easy to follow,” he explained.

“New topics and recent research papers from the majority of Canadian forage and beef cattle research scientists are being added all the time, so www.foragebeef.ca is always a quick reference for subjects that producers are interested in.”

For more information, contact:
Al Foster, Forage Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Phone: (306) 878-8890