Rethinking Lifestyle

Remember the winds of the May long weekend?

I was driving east across the province, near Gladstone, and found myself almost unable to see my way through a dust storm. Field after field you could see swirling winds lifting soil into the air and blowing it several kilometres. It was a relief to reach farmland where there was grassland, or winter wheat, or fields edged with trees for a break in the view. We passed farm after farm where shelter belts planted by previous generations had been ripped out and stacked ready for burning.

Whatever happened to the shelter belt program?

Died a death in the last conservative government cuts to environmental protection programs, when the Prairie Farm Research Agency disappeared.

Why did we need the shelter belt program?

To prevent soil erosion – a major problem in dry periods across the prairies (Yes, I know its hard to remember a time when we had those). There was a time when the prairies became a dust bowl. Dry soils and big fields resulted in big drifts after strong winds.

Topsoil is an essential element for growing crops. Agriculture support programs and beneficial management practices over the past 80 years have been geared towards protecting soil. Cover crops to stop erosion and build organic matter, shelter belts, tillage practices designed to protect soil structure.

Shelter belts bring other benefits too – they provide shelter for birds, mammals, and insects, that are all part of the natural ecosystem, and which serenade the arrival of a new season. They trap snow, providing protection in blizzards, and slowing the flow of water across the fields during the springtime melt, filtering nutrients that turn out lakes green. They break up strong winds and protect crops. They stop soil from being blown off, or capture soil that is blowing across fields.

So why do farmers remove shelter belts? Why not ask them – I am sure they will provide robust arguments.

There is little support to farmers to help them maintain shelter belts, woodlands, wetlands, streams, and riverbanks. In our part of Manitoba, these areas are under enormous pressure, but aside from their ecological value, and the filtering and buffering they provide in our man-made landscape, they provide beauty and interest. Maybe we should pay farmers to maintain the natural landscape, these marginal areas – our insurance against climate change and environmental problems.

Anyone else think this is a good idea?

By the time we arrived home, the dust we drove through had set like concrete on the car after we hit the rain closer to Winnipeg. From the back of the car you couldn’t tell what make it was, see the lights or read the number plate.

The car cleaned up in the car wash, but what about the fields – they are not so easily fixed. Once the soil is gone, it can’t be easily brought back. To rebuild the soil takes years and tonnes of organic material.

So, I’m standing up for shelter-belts and calling on you to lobby your MLA for support schemes for farmers that will benefit our environment and food production system.