Leveraging Ecosystems to transform Agriculture on the Prairies (LEAP)
We want to explore appropriate agricultural intensification strategies across a diverse landscape that includes fragile lands using geospatial and other landscape analysis tools. We also want to design farming systems that use technology and nature based tools to reduce GHG emissions, capture carbon and help agriculture mitigate and adapt to negative effects of climate change.
LEAP
How to get involved
Check out how to get involved in this exciting project!
Summer Employment Positions
Assessing on-farm landscapes for net zero, soil health and resilience parameters in annual, perennial and intermediate perennial farming systems. Position details found here.
UMConnect Req# 34979.
Direct contact: Dr. Joanne Thiessen Martens
Technical field sampling assistant in annual, perennial, and intermediate farming systems. Position details found here.
Dierct contact: Dr. Xiaopeng Gao
Potential Farmer Collaborators
Activity 3: We're currently recruiting farmers to participate in an on-farm study to determine how land management and site properties affect sustainability goals, including net-zero agriculture, biodiversity protection, and productivity. We want to collect information and samples from field with different type of management history, ranging from only annual crops to only perennial crops. We are particularly interested in the "in-between" fields - those that have some diversification or "perennialization" with cover crops, perennials in rotation, and other approaches.
Interested? We want to hear from you! Click here.
Filling out the survey is an expression of interest - it does not guarantee or require participation in the study. We will follow up to see if this study is a good fit for your farm.
Activity 1: Winter Coffee Sessions: Please consider sharing your thoughts with us about:
- The past/present/future of your farm (goals, barriers)
- Policies, programs, regulations
- Supports for farmers, their well-being, and farm succession
If you're interested, please let us know your scheduling preferences for this winter. Click here.
Potential Graduate Students/Post-Docs
If you are interested in graduate work that facilitates multi-disciplinary collaboration within academia and industry, reach out! We have graduate and post-doc opportunities in social, plant, soil, policy, modelling, and Indigenous-focussed disciplines. Positions are located at the University of Manitoba and at the University of Saskatchewan.
Fill out the recruitment form by clicking here.
Only successful candidates will be contacted.
This is not an official University of Manitoba/University of Saskatchewan Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) application. You will be contacted by the relevant faculty member and will then be invited to apply to the FGS.
Activities
Activity 1: Farmer Engagement
When assessing outcomes of farm practices on people, animals, and the land, co-designing those metrics by incorporating scientific/academic knowledge as well as the invaluable lived experiences of farmers ensures that farmers are a key part of the research process, identifying and describing what is important to them and fitting the research design to their understanding of the world.
Our team will study the big picture of life on the farm to identify connections between farm management, farmer well-being (physical and mental), biodiversity, policy, and sustainability.
Activity Leaders: Dr. Meagan King and Dr. Kyle Bobiwash
Collaborator: Dr. Briana Hagen (CEO/Lead Scientist, Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing)
Activity 2: First Nations Self-Determined Farming Systems
First Nations communities in the agricultural region of the Eastern Canadian Prairies oversee agricultural lands. The last agricultural census reveals that while there were only 65 First Nations farmers in Manitoba and 140 in Saskatchewan, First Nations reserve land encompasses 115,000 and 538,000 acres of cropped land, mostly managed by non-Indigenous Farmers.
With the goal to elevate First Nations sustainable agriculture initiatives and participation in achieving net-zero in agricultural sector, we will nurture existing relationships and create new ones with First Nations to:
1) identify First Nations' agricultural initiatives and priorities for agricultural land management;
2) integrate Indigenous-defined metrics of agricultural sustainability with net-zero metrics;
3) co-design beneficial management practices that achieve First Nations-defined goals;
4) co-develop a framework for research and adoption of ecological intensification for First Nation self-determined farming systems
Activity Leaders: Dr. Melissa Arcand (University of Saskatchewan) and Dr. Kyle Bobiwash
Activity 3: Landscape Analyses
We aim to evaluate how perennialization strategies - traditional and novel - already being implemented in the eastern Prairie region may help to shift agriculture to net-zero while supporting other agronomic and environmental goals.
Interdisciplinary research at multiple scales, from microbial processes to GHG flux towers is required to understand the trade-offs and co-benefits associated with agricultural practices.
We will collect data from real farms - depth of data collection will be tied to "Gold", "Silver" and "Bronze" sites to understand the underlying drivers of farms' GHG emissions and connect the data to the 'real world' in order to maximize impact of this research beyond the University.
Activity Leader: Dr. Joanne Thiessen Martens
Integrated Faculty: Dr. Henrique Carvalho, Dr. Xiaopeng Gao, Dr. Nasem Badreldin, Dr. Melissa Arcand (University of Saskatchewan), Dr. Afua Mante, Dr. Doug Cattani, Dr. Robert Gulden, Dr. Jason Gibbs, Dr. Matthew Bakker, Dr. Alejandro Costamagna, Dr. Kyle Bobiwash
The Landscape Team is looking for farmers! If you're interested in participating as a 'silver' or 'bronze' site, click here.
Activity 4: Net-Zero Farming Systems Studies
The cropping systems studies will utilize existing long-term field experiments at the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan to investigate the integration of cover crops, perennial phases, and livestock into Prairie-designed crop rotations.
Additionally, a crop rotation study aimed at developing best management strategies and benefits of perennial pollinator strips will be implemented.
Activity Leader: Dr. Yvonne Lawley
Integrated Faculty: Dr. Maryse Bourgault (University of Saskatchewan), Dr. Martin Entz, Dr. Jason Gibbs, Dr. Alejandro Costamagna
Activity 5: Future Farm Scenarios
The Holos model is Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's whole-farm model, designed to answer "what if?" questions regarding land management decisions effects on farms' overall GHG budget.
The scenarios will be developed through interactive consultation process with partners, farmers, stakeholders, and research from universities and federal agencies.
Data from activity 3 and 4 will be integrated into the models.
Activity Leader: Dr. Marcos Cunha Cordeiro
Collaborator: Dr. Roland Kröbel (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge)
Our Partners
Our partners were selected to represent a broad cross section of production and environmental interests. By working with a well rounded set of actors, results of the research should be applicable - in terms of production, environment and policy - across all of Canada.
People
Dr. Afua Mante
Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Mante focuses on soil water flow and other soil processes spanning different landscapes, ecosystems, and land uses. She will supervise master and undergraduate students working to evaluate the influence of perennialization spectrum influence on soil structural dynamics and Dr. Mante will also contribute to the farmer engagement process.
Involved in: Activities 1 and 2
Dr. Henrique Da Ros Carvalho
Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Carvalho studies cycling of energy and mass in agricultural systems using micrometeorologiacal techniques. He will operate the eddy flux towers in the landscapes team. Dr Carvalho will supervise postdoctoral fellows and masters and undergradute students working to study the carbon and water budget/dynamics of different land use strategies.
Involved in: Activity 3
Dr. Nasem Badreldin
Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Badreldin brings expertise in data analytics, land use land cover analysis and geospatial modeling. He will model landscape dynamics and land use land cover change, soil health, biodiversity, and landscape productivity using hyperspectral remote sensing and machine learning.
Involved in: Activity 3
Dr. Xiaopeng Gao
Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Gao studies the fate of nutrients in agroecosystems, developing best management practices to enhance productivity while minimizing negative environmental impacts. He will be studying nitrous oxide emissions from different land use strategies.
Involved in: Activity 3
Dr. Matthew Bakker
Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba
Dr. Bakker studies complex microbial communities, his team will be measuring densities of microbial genes related to greenhouse gases (ie. the genes who products are responsible for formation or consumption of nitrous oxide and methane) and will profile microbiomes.
Involved in: Activity 3
Dr. Rob Gulden
Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Gulden has over 20 years of research experience in weed science, crop production and biostatistics. He and Dr. Cattani will be responsible for collecting the weed and functional trait data in this project. He will also be involved in the amalgamation of data sets to determine relationships among the response variables and feed into the modelling and engagement group.
Involved in: Activities 3 and 5
Dr. Doug Cattani
Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Cattani works with herbaceous perennial species for food, feed and bioenergy. He will work with Dr. Gulden to collect weed community and functional trait data.
Involved in: Activities 1 and 3
Dr. Jason Gibbs
Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba
Dr. Gibbs will oversee pollinator surveys from the landscape activity. His team will also be involved in combining >100,000 recent and historical bee records with current surveys and external data sets to model the effects of perennialization of habitat on wild bees.
Involved in: Activities 3 and 4
Dr. Alejandro Costamagna
Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba
Dr. Costamagna studies sustainable methods to control arthropod pests in agricultural systems. His team will be comparing the abundance, diversity, and pest control services of natural enemies in agricultural systems across a gradient of perennialization.
Involved in: Activities 3 and 4
Dr. Maryse Bourgault
College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan
Dr. Bourgault conducts interdisciplinary systems-based research to improve the resilience, sustainability, and profitability of dryland grain production.
Involved in: Activity 4
Dr. Kim Ominski
Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Ominski has expertise in multidisciplinary, systems-based research examining the productivity and environmental sustainability of forage-based beef cattle production systems. She has well-established relationships with several project partners and the facilitate the co-design of producer surveys and modelling activities.
Assists in: Activities 1 and 5
Dr. Briana Hagen
Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing
After completing her Master’s of Science in Community Health and Epidemiology, Dr. Hagen completed a PhD in the department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph. Using both survey and qualitative data, she examined how farmers and their farms are impacted by mental health outcomes, with a focus on perceived stress and the barriers and facilitators of help-seeking for farmers.
Involved in: Activity 1
Dr. Roland Kröbel
Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada (Lethbridge)
Dr. Kröbel is a research scientist with AAFC and the science lead of the Holos model development. In this role, his expertise is related to model development, stakeholder involvement, carbon and nitrogen cycling in soil, and whole-farm GHG analysis. Being based on the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, the Holos model represents the NIR on the farm level, and as such Dr. Kröbel is very familiar with the NIR calculations and their limitations and attempts to assist the further NIR development through advances in the Holos model.
Involved in: Activity 5
For more information
Contact Us
Department of Plant Science
66 Dafoe Road
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada