Harvest is complete for another season on Shawn Catherwood’s farm near Ceylon, Sask., about 100 kilometres south of Regina.
Catherwood, a fifth-generation producer, grows a diverse range of crops. Like many operations in the province, Catherwood’s farm is a zero-till operation.
“I think the worst thing you can do to your soil is have it completely exposed. It’s really hard on the soil microbiome,” he said.
“No-till has been that foundational practice that allows us to quite literally protect the skin of the Earth a little bit.”
The move to minimal and zero-tillage agriculture across Western Canada began late last century. According to the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), 78 per cent of farms in Saskatchewan were zero-till as of 2021.
Recent research has dived into the benefits of zero-tillage agriculture on soil organic matter in Saskatchewan fields.
Stuart Smyth, the study’s co-author and a professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Saskatchewan, collected farm management data from producers during various crop production periods since the 1990s.
“What we found over that period of time is when we looked at it at a provincial level, soil organic matter levels increased by 41 per cent across the province,” he said.
In addition to zero-till, Shawn Catherwood is growing cover crops including triticale to maximize the number of living root days. (Allister Aalders/CBC)
Smyth said the move to zero-till has also reduced wind and soil erosion on fields, and has increased water retention, providing benefits during periods of drought.
He added that herbicides, including controversial weed killers like glyphosate, were introduced to manage weed control, but said zero-till practices help protect surrounding environments from those chemicals.
“Those herbicides are staying in the field because there’s less erosion into the watershed, so there’s less herbicide residues ending up in watersheds,” he said.
Bill Huber, a third-generation farmer and president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), credits farmers for realizing the benefits and adapting to zero-till.
He said the high cost of diesel fuel would add significantly more pressure if producers were still tilling their fields today.
“Thank goodness we are looking after our soil, looking after our productivity concerns, and trying to manage things as efficiently as we can,” he said.
“It all goes back to soil health and the productivity we’ve accomplished over the years.”
Huber said integrating more livestock and growing more grasses are key steps to continue improving soil health in the province.
“I’m not saying all of it, and it has to be selected properly, where we get poorer, less productive land into grass again, where it can convert protein without a fertilizer use or much management,” he said.
Meanwhile, Catherwood is going further.
He has adopted principles associated with regenerative agriculture on his farm, including limiting disturbance, armouring soil, building diversity and integrating livestock — which he plans to do with bison this winter.
Shawn Catherwood examines the soil on his farm near Ceylon, Sask. (Allister Aalders/CBC)
He said the term regenerative agriculture can be controversial due to changing language and false or misleading solutions, known as “greenwashing,” but that having an open mindset is essential.
“How can we take the momentum of no-till innovation and push the envelope further toward better land stewardship and soil health in general?” he said.
“One tool or one practice change isn’t [going to] to solve all of our issues, so we [have to] keep that always on the forefront of our mind and make sure that we do everything we can to essentially work within the laws of nature, because if we try to fight nature all the time we’re not going to win that battle.”
