New ‘living lab’ to research greenhouse gas emissions

A new living lab project has been created in Manitoba as a collaboration between farmers and researchers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

On Wednesday, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Lawrence MacAulay said the lab represents an investment of up to $9.2 million over five years under the Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) Living Labs program.

The living lab, led by the Manitoba Association of Watersheds, will aim to accelerate the agricultural sector’s response to climate change by bringing together producers, scientists and other sector partners to co-develop, test and evaluate on-farm beneficial management practices.

These practices, called BMPs, will be found on multiple sites across Manitoba. The BMPs support nutrient management, water retention, crop and livestock integration, soil health and more, and will help store carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing environmental benefits to producers.

The program puts the focus on tangible, on-farm research to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, Ryan Canart, the general manager of the Assiniboine West Watershed District, told the Sun.

“It tries to marry up BMPs that are being applied on the farm scale with a research component to measure and monitor the impacts of those practices,” he said.

The collaboration between producers and researchers is a unique part of the project, Canart added.

“It’s kind of neat in the sense that you get a landowner that’s wishing to address the environmental concern, you implement a practice, and then they also try to wrap a research component around that practice.”

The Manitoba Association of Watershed Districts will collaborate with partner organizations to encourage the transfer of knowledge and exchange between local producers, federal and provincial researchers, Indigenous communities and other patrons, a press release said Wednesday.

Collaborating with farmers and researchers through their local watershed districts brings tremendous value to Manitoba farmers, said Gary Wasylowski, the board chair of the Manitoba Association of Watersheds.

Practices developed on-farm and shared within communities are an effective way to increase adaptation of BMPs, Wasylowski said.

“Our hope is that innovative practices developed through Living Lab Manitoba will lead to healthier watersheds through an increase in sustainable agricultural practices and reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Farmers are natural innovators, and by partnering with researchers, they can help develop novel solutions to build resilience and to address the challenges of climate change, MacAulay said.

“Manitoba’s rich farming history has laid the groundwork for this exciting new project.”

The new Manitoba living lab adds to the four living labs launched earlier this year — two in Quebec, one in Ontario, and one in Prince Edward Island — and the nine announced in 2022. With a total of 14 living labs under the program, there is now at least one living lab in every province.

The Manitoba Association of Watersheds previously led Living Lab Eastern Prairies under the former Living Laboratories Initiative, which ended this year.

Canada introduced the agroecosystem living labs concept to G20 agriculture ministers in 2018, who welcomed it as a novel way to accelerate the development of sustainable agricultural practices and technologies around the world.

First announced in March of 2021, the Agricultural Climate Solutions program is one of many initiatives undertaken to promote environmental sustainability and resiliency in the agricultural sector. It is part of Ottawa’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, and towards net-zero emissions by 2050. Those goals were announced ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

This story was originally published in The Brandon Sun. It is republished under a Creative Commons license as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.