Rural Roots

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March 16th 11 am PST 

Presentation Summary:
The development of the first carbon offset opportunity for Canadian grassland owners is an important first step to scale up opportunities to incentivise grassland owners for environmental goods and services they provide. In this presentation we will describe this initial opportunity, what it means for Canada’s grasslands, how we got here, and an exciting pilot project we are launching this Spring. We will also discuss what’s next in the pipeline to create many more opportunities for grassland owners through a collaborative soil carbon research and data network for Canadian grasslands which aims to address critical scientific and data gaps.

Presentation session format:
• Canadian Grasslands Protocol – Development history (limitations of the science dataset), 15-minutes (Karen H-K and Jon Alcock)
• Canadian Grasslands Protocol – Deployment strategy (Shell pilot) , 10- minutes (Cedric MacLeod)
• Soil Carbon Roadmap Development and Deployment (Grasslands Protocol

Phase-2, towards a practice-based quantification protocol), 15-20
minutes (Brian McConkey and Cedric MacLeod)

Biographies

Karen Haugen-Kozyra, M. Sc., P.Ag.
Karen has over 30 years of experience in agricultural greenhouse gas measurement, modelling and climate change/environmental policy development – spanning her tenure at the provincial Department of Agriculture in Alberta, then at the not-for-profit Climate Change Central and now in the private sector. Currently, Karen is President of Viresco Solutions Inc. – a network of leading advisors making sustainability real for public and private clients in the agriculture, energy and food sectors across North America and globally. Karen is also a registered Professional Agrologist with the Alberta Institute of Agrology.

Dr. Brian Mcconkey, Ph.D.
Prior to his joining Viresco as Chief Scientist, Brian had 35 years of diverse experience in agri-environmental research, technology application, and science policy with Alberta ministry of Agriculture, Environment Canada, and, primarily, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. His research has been wide ranging including soil and plant processes, soil health, water-agriculture inter-relationships, impacts of climate change on agriculture, quantifying carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions at field to national scales, sustainability of bioenergy, lifecycle assessment, and sustainability metrics. He led the initiative that developed the methods for quantifying the change in carbon stocks on Canada’s agricultural land used in Canada’s national greenhouse gas inventory.

Jonathon Alcock, B.Sc.
Since graduating with a 1st Class Honours degree in Environmental Sciences in 2011, Jon has worked in a variety of sectors and fields in the environmental sector, particularly in the fields of climate change monitoring, modelling and research, greenhouse gas emissions quantification and mitigation; in agricultural, conservation and industrial sectors. Jon has worked for both government environmental agencies and private-sector consultancies in the UK and N. America. At Viresco Jon has honed his greenhouse gas quantification skills particularly in agriculture, natural systems, and waste management, at project, provincial and national scales. Jon has also consulted for provincial governments, industry groups and ENGOs on greenhouse gas inventory accounting, and climate and GHG mitigation policy.

Cedric MacLeod
Cedric pursued a Master’s degree in Soil Science from the University of Manitoba, graduating in 2003. After a three and a half year stint in Ottawa with the Canadian Pork Council, Cedric returned home to New Brunswick, where he established both his farming operation, Local Valley Beef, and his agri-environmental consulting business, MacLeod Agronomics. As such, he has considerable knowledge and experience in extended grazing season, rotational grazing and integrated forage production system concepts. On top of his consulting business and his beef farm, Cedric finds time to act as the contract Executive Director of the Canadian Forage & Grasslands Association and Opportunities Coordinator for the New Brunswick Cattle Producers. Cedric’s work has contributed significantly towards progressing Canada’s agricultural industry in farm business management practices and specifically, securing a foundation for sustainable and resilient cropping systems deployment across the agricultural landscape.