Reconstructions

Josy / Teresa / Jim / Doug / Johns!  (whoever is Minister) / Norman!

I attach a comment that I sent to Jim Southcott this morning. 

We live in an extraordinary place Aux Sables with an extraordinary past! It's amazing to witness the richness that still remains. I say still remains because I believe sincerely that current practices of farming, commercialization, and residential development are destroying it very fast, too fast. 

For part of my own history I worked with some of the worlds finest engineers at Rendall, Palmer and Tritton, who built the real London Bridge and the Thames Barrier that protects London, England from flooding at High tides off the North Sea. Much of their time was spent understanding water flows coming out of rivers and the effects these have on sands, beaches and natural life, along with counterflows off lakes, seas and oceans. My contribution was to examine and understand the economics of a watershed area.

The Aux Sables watershed and conduit needs to be better understood and researched. I am truly saddened by what could be the permanent loss of natural habitat through crazy ideas about what is good and bad for people neglecting the total picture.

..........just a thought, but it would be productive to grow a region in its totality rather than piece meal with a load of crap implantation disfiguring it and uglifying what nature is striving to build against the unrelenting forces of human ignorance!

We see from the clip below how the Federal Government is funding efforts to develop agricultural practices that are an attempt to make Ontario farmers competitive.

Well, I have news for farmers in Ontario. Ploughing fields, spreading chemicals from out west on local soils, using Monsanto seeds, and using high energy farm machinery are not truly productive practices in producing food in ways that are sustainable. They are not even close to being best practice. So what are the farmers and researchers doing to really get to grips with what ails this community in its totality?

RT

Attached email!

Jim!

You have touched my emotions!

Just to say how much I enjoyed the field trip and appreciate your taking an interest in my feeding on the past events and materials making up the residue of perceptions about local history!

The story Sherwood Fox weaves in his writing about Aux Sables is of extraordinary value both to those reconstructing mental images of what went before in human terms, but also what made this area so valuable in living natural resources and such a variety of entities we really ought to attempt bring back in meaningful ways. We all know about dead natural resources, but here is a great Tribute to what was once a living home and centre for sustainable resources, one that we should all try to regrow as a living region of extraordinary life and living support systems. 

I shudder to think of all that has been killed off that gave support to such a rich habitat of so many creatures, flora and fauna. Our ancestors were unaware of how far the threads of destructive influence would be carried by their children. New beginnings and understandings are needed to reintroduce threads of life and support that can build a richer balance between human and natural strivings to live and to inherit strengths from earlier roots. 

So much in my agricultural science lessons should be killed off and replaced with new understandings, much of which we need to sponsor ourselves and provide a basis for emerging life.

My friends call me 'RT'!  Arthur

PS

I love the name Sherwood Fox. I conjures up so many positive images including Robin!

Twitter: @wuhlax

Government of Canada Invests in Green Agriculture Technology

October 13, 2011

Canadian farmers will benefit from a partnership among the Government of Canada, industry and universities across Canada to enhance producer profitability through green agriculture technologies. Today, Parliamentary Secretary Pierre Lemieux, on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, announced an investment of nearly $4 million for the University of Guelph to study and develop on-farm tools to help farmers mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and remain competitive in the global marketplace. The announcement was made at the Guelph Turfgrass Institute on October 13.

"Canada's agriculture industry plays a vital role in keeping our economy strong," said Mr. Lemieux. "This research will lead to new tools and practices to help farmers protect the environment and grow their business."

The University of Guelph will use the investment to conduct two separate projects, both based in OAC's School of Environmental Sciences. Prof. Claudia Wagner-Riddle focuses on livestock and crop production systems in the dairy sector, examining new and refined management practices and improved feeding strategies, resulting in better economic returns and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.  Profs. Andy Gordon and Naresh Thevathasan focus on agroforestry, looking specifically at tree-based intercropping, a European agricultural practice that incorporates trees into cultivated areas to both reduce emissions and increase a farm's profit potential.

"These two projects will go a long way towards helping Canada develop important greenhouse gas mitigation strategies, benefiting farmers and reducing impacts on the environment," said Kevin Hall, University of Guelph's Vice-President (Research). "Partnerships such as the two we are celebrating today are central to our mission of creating new knowledge and value for society. The University of Guelph has a long history of working with government and industry to translate research knowledge into new technologies, products and services."

Funding for this project is through the Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program (AAGP), a five-year, $27-million initiative that focuses on the development of on-farm greenhouse gas mitigation technologies. The AGGP represents Canada's initial contribution to the Global Research Alliance, an international network of more than 30 member-countries that will coordinate and increase agricultural research on greenhouse gas mitigation and make new mitigation technologies and beneficial management practices available to farmers. For more information on the Global Research Alliance, visit http://www.globalresearchalliance.org/