Living Lab – Atlantic

This project aims to provide an experimental setting to help in the prevention of key agri-environmental issues. Identified issues include nutrient loss due to soil erosion and its impacts on local waterways, declining soil organic matter, nutrient loss due to improper water management, and fertilizer application for better nutrient management. With the cooperation of farmers, methods involving fall-seeded cover crops, full-season soil-building rotation crops, nurse cropping demonstration trials, slow release fertilizer products and using constructed wetlands and grass waterways to improve water quality would be implemented in select fields to test their viability in mitigating these issues. The specific Best Management Practices (BMPs) that Souris Wildlife is partnering on and/or that are occurring within our management area are:
BMP 1 – Use of Fall Seeded Cover Crops following Primary Tillage
BMP 2 – Use of Fall Seeded Cover Crops following Potato Production
BMP 3 – Use of Full-Season Soil-Building Rotation Crops for Building Soil Organic Matter
BMP 4 – Nurse Cropping Demonstration Trials within Potato and Corn Production Systems
BMP 7 – Reduced Nitrogen Losses through use of Slow Release Fertiliser Products
BMP 8 – Using Constructed Wetland and Vegetated Grass Waterways to Improve Water Quality
Supporting Activity 3 – Paired-field Trial Demonstrating BMPs to Reduce Nitrate Leaching
Supporting Activity 5 – Enhancing Soil Quality with Reduced Tillage
Supporting Internal BMP 2.4a – Precise Potato N Management to Enhance N use Efficiency and Environmental Performance
Supporting Internal BMP 2.4b – N Losses via GHG Emissions