The Canadian forage and grasslands sector is the single largest land- use component of Canadian agriculture, covering over 70-million acres of cropland.
Roughly 36-million acres are devoted to native rangeland, with the remaining 34-million acres dedicated to the production of annual and perennial tame forages, including 675,000 acres of corn silage. In short, the land mass of forage and grasslands is massive.
It is well known that forages create valuable carbon sequestration, yet measuring the full value of the ecological goods and services provided by this massive forage and grassland sector to Canadian society is a challenge. Also challenging is measuring the economic value of the contributions made by individual landowners to increase soil carbon storage through adoption of beneficial management practices (BMPs) and/or the use of new, high-performance forage genetics.
In the practical, straightforward document below, you will find BMPs you can implement to enhance and maximize soil carbon sequestration, as well as a comprehensive explanation of carbon trading. This is a valuable tool moving forward.
This manual was organized by and written for the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association by Mackenzie Rathgeber and edited by Bill Thomas. Special thanks to: Grant Lastiwka, Linda Hunt, Sheilah Nolan, John Duynisveld, Alan Fredeen and Serena Black for their contributions.