Earth Day

[Blaithin]

You mean sort of like Al Gores 15,000 sqft mansion, or David Suzikis 5 homes or Bill Gates private jet fleet or Gretas million dollar endorsements?

I dont hear farmers preaching to anyone.

Someone decided to crash commodity prices 40 yrs ago, so dont blame farmers for what they do today trying to make a living.

You always deflect to other people Jazz. Like just because they’re dumb or hypocrites or corrupt, you must have no flaws?

If I wanted to talk about the hypocrisy of the elite billionaires I would talk about them. Their flaws don’t mean us plebeians are flawless or excused from having flaws though. Worry about yourself more and them less. It may make your life less stressful?

And farmers are constantly preaching. Go on any social media platform and bring up Earth day, GMOs, glyphosate, antibiotic and hormone free beef, grassfed, tillage, etc. and watch the dust fly.

[furrowtickler]

But everyone seems to think they should preach to a grain farmer ..... meanwhile the monster created is coming after them too . The climate cultists want to eliminate livestock... do not sure why throwing rocks at grain farmers makes much sense.
They are coming after all of us.

[Blaithin]

Farm how you’re going to farm. It’s your business.

Talk about how great you are with the environment and work so well with Mother Nature when pretty much the entire business model is to brow beat Mother Nature into doing what you want then I’m going to call you on it.

Being better than an asphalt pad full of condos doesn’t mean you’re good for the environment. It just means you aren’t as bad as an asphalt pad full of condos.

[Braveheart]

Why? Because I don’t think farmers are as Earth friendly as many like to say and believe they are?

They’re farmer economic friendly, not Earth.

Old farmer wisdom is don’t plant until the trees start to go green. Then the Earth is ready. Go for a drive right now and see how many remember that logic. Not very in synch with nature and the seasons. On the hunt for an early seed, because that must always equate to a good and early harvest... right? Surley?

The Earth may be on the list of prerogatives for many farmers, but it’s not generally very high. I can make a hulking list of things that would be better for the Earth if implemented on farm but I already know the responses everyone here would have. That wouldn’t work/isn’t necessary in this area. That would cost too much. That would decrease my yield. You obviously don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’ve farmed here for thousands of days and absolutely know more than you ever will, get back in your book.

Farmers are professionals at farming. I absolutely in no way equate that to being Earth friendly or in synch with Nature. The potential is there too be, but it’s not usually a potential that’s well developed. They like to pat themselves on the back by saying they work with nature but pretty much everything done is a fight against it. But that’s ok, the hypocrisy is a secret for the most part.

And if it makes you feel better to think I’m a latte sipping urbanite who’s come to these conclusions via biased documentaries then feel free to do so.

"Farmer economic friendly IS Earth friendly. Most farmers in western Canada have reduced tillage, many down to one pass seeding. So from what used to be typical 3 or more passes we see a savings in fuel of at least 60+%. Is that not a smaller carbon footprint and therefore Earth friendly?

Exactly how many shops and sheds have converted lighting to LED? More than can be counted. Again Earth friendly and economical.

RTK guidance and advanced sprayers place minute quantities of pesticides without overlap reducing pesticide loading of the environment and saving money. Earth friendly again.

I could on and on but, every day on many farms is Earth Day because it makes economic sense. In the 80's we started with no till to keep our farms from blowing away. We still have that as a goal but economics are now an added benefit.

Some of your above comments have no merit whatsoever. Agronomic advice re seeding dates from old farmer wisdom might have been prudent when a cultivator was used to kill emerged wild oats before we had the chemistry to do that. Absolutely nothing to do with "nature" in fact probably counter nature. You mentioned in "synch with nature", and I'm not sure what that means? Whatever nature is, it will sort out pretty fast any farmer "not in synch". Try seeding in Feb. even if you could or calving on the open range in Manitoba in January.

You'll find that as time advances, progressive farmers will pluck things from the regen crowd too and adapt those techniques to make more money and be continuing Earth friendly (cover crops, companion crops, etc).

The final reason farmers are Earth friendly is basic: WE LIVE HERE! The city dwellers that turn off their lights one night a year and want to reimagine agriculture right out of business don't live in the environment they work in. To them Earth Day is just another virtue signalling opportunity.

We're in it to win it, but winning means every day taking that time to breathe that air, smell the soil, and be thankful that the Earth gives us and future generations our home and livelihood.

Every day here is Earth Day.

[Guest]

There not interested brave
How anyone could think a (real) farmer , like most are , (but not all ) doesn’t care about this beautiful earth we live on is beyond me
That’s what we are , what we do
Meanwhile they sit in their polluted cities lecturing us

[jazz]

Next time you see an actual farmer preaching on a CBC discussion panel or CNN town hall or telling an entire other group of people how to close down their way of life and learn to code cause the world is ending be sure to let us know.

[GDR]

Blaithin is not wrong. Obviously all types of farmers and extremes both ways and I like to think us Western Canadian farmers are the best in the world. But... draining wetlands, pushing every square foot of bush, spraying for bugs and killing the good ones and the bad ones, 3 plus trips a year over ground with the sprayer, salt based fertilizers, gopher poison etc etc. I'm not saying we are wrecking the world but to argue we dont have an environmental impact is just ignorant. Not preaching I do all those things just stating the obvious.

[fjlip]

"Being better than an asphalt pad full of condos doesn’t mean you’re good for the environment. "

But those earth "muffins" in asphalt pads think farmers are RAPING the earth! They are SH*T compared to farmers/ranchers living in, working with real nature! They can't see past their virtue signals! And farmers collectively FEED these unappreciative bastards. But too many think we are trying to KILL them?

[jazz]

Blaithin is not wrong. .

Everyone and every profession has an environmental footprint. Ours at least exists in the service of feeding people.

Have a look at some of the others out there and if any have a cause like that behind them. Example; there are underground caverns full of energy gobbling servers collecting data for facebook and google, storing cat videos and mining bitcoins. I have never once heard anyone say anything about this use of scarce resources and the impact on the environment, yet millions more are added every yr.

I just put up a little gazebo in our back yard. Cedar from ontario, shipped raw to China to be cut, stained, holes drilled and then packed with garbage chinese hardware and returned on another ship back to costco here. At least thats canadian lumber and might last for a few yrs. There is tons of landfill ready junk coming everyday here.

Its a little incredulous for anyone to point to ag as a big problem when that sort of globalization crap has been going on for 30+ yrs.

[furrowtickler]

Blaithin is not wrong. Obviously all types of farmers and extremes both ways and I like to think us Western Canadian farmers are the best in the world. But... draining wetlands, pushing every square foot of bush, spraying for bugs and killing the good ones and the bad ones, 3 plus trips a year over ground with the sprayer, salt based fertilizers, gopher poison etc etc. I'm not saying we are wrecking the world but to argue we dont have an environmental impact is just ignorant. Not preaching I do all those things just stating the obvious.

To assume we all do those things is wrong .
Most I know don’t push every square foot of Bush ..
very few drain wetlands , permission is needed all the way down the drainage system, so it’s rarely done but a few do. Most just work up low areas when dry enough to seed a crop or establish new grass / alfalfa mix’s .
Newer sources of fertilizer is being used with very low salt index’s
genetics like wheat midge resistance , schlerotina resistance, fusarium head blight resistance, enhanced seed treatments all greatly reduce the need for spraying applications and harm to good bugs .
Targeted insecticide that hits only cutworms and leaves beneficial bugs alone is another example .
Gophers if left unchecked can even ruin forage and grasslands

The world is changing , and so have most of us , this is not 20 years ago

[Guest]

Everyone and every profession has an environmental footprint. Ours at least exists in the service of feeding people.

Have a look at some of the others out there and if any have a cause like that behind them. Example; there are underground caverns full of energy gobbling servers collecting data for facebook and google, storing cat videos and mining bitcoins. I have never once heard anyone say anything about this use of scarce resources and the impact on the environment, yet millions more are added every yr.

I just put up a little gazebo in our back yard. Cedar from ontario, shipped raw to China to be cut, stained, holes drilled and then packed with garbage chinese hardware and returned on another ship back to costco here. At least thats canadian lumber and might last for a few yrs. There is tons of landfill ready junk coming everyday here.

Its a little incredulous for anyone to point to ag as a big problem when that sort of globalization crap has been going on for 30+ yrs.

i bought that little chinese jeep from princess auto for the granddaughters last summer
when i unpacked the box there was half sheets of OSB from the mill in hudson bay Sask, all the way to china and back ! , 70 miles from where it was made

[sumdumguy]

Our little guys have just about driven the tires right off two of those kid Jeeps. We changed the battery to the smallest automotive battery you can buy. It is about 5 inch by 8 inch. Its a yard tractor battery and lasts about a week. What enjoyment they’ve had from those little Jeeps both going round and round the concrete pad and in the work shed all winter.

[TSIPP]

Why do people get concerned when farmers drain wetlands? You should see all the red tape and hoops you need to navigate so us farmers can create wetlands.

[GDR]

To assume we all do those things is wrong .
Most I know don’t push every square foot of Bush ..
very few drain wetlands , permission is needed all the way down the drainage system, so it’s rarely done but a few do. Most just work up low areas when dry enough to seed a crop or establish new grass / alfalfa mix’s .
Newer sources of fertilizer is being used with very low salt index’s
genetics like wheat midge resistance , schlerotina resistance, fusarium head blight resistance, enhanced seed treatments all greatly reduce the need for spraying applications and harm to good bugs .
Targeted insecticide that hits only cutworms and leaves beneficial bugs alone is another example .
Gophers if left unchecked can even ruin forage and grasslands

The world is changing , and so have most of us , this is not 20 years ago

Furrow, as I said there are all kinds of farmers but you have to look at the industry collectively. In this very thread there were a number of contributors proudly displaying their cat work, and the rest of the examples are likely not hard to find in other recent threads and that doesnt make them wrong it just illustrates what Blaithin is trying to say.

I'm glad you are trying to do the right things, I am too but that doesn't mean its common place out there or what we are doing couldn't be perfected. Think about all your neighbours do they do the things you are doing?


I actually dislike earth day too for what it symbolizes to lots of people but when a farm group starts and contributes to a thread with the very idea to illustrate their intentions to pollute and damage the world it makes us all look like a bunch of red neck morons.

Jazz, in your example who is the problem? Nothing frustrates me more than all that Chinese stuff retailed back to us but when we make a choice to buy it instead of the more expensive domestic stuff we send a signal to continue.


And yes there are other industries worse than ag, but is that really the best argument you got?

[Guest]

Our little guys have just about driven the tires right off two of those kid Jeeps. We changed the battery to the smallest automotive battery you can buy. It is about 5 inch by 8 inch. Its a yard tractor battery and lasts about a week. What enjoyment they’ve had from those little Jeeps both going round and round the concrete pad and in the work shed all winter.

This is a 125 cc gas job