An Integrated Socio-Economic and Biophysical Framework for Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

under Agricultural Water Management Systems in Eastern Canada

Presentation Outline and Workshop Objectives

• Brief background and update on AGGP Phase II

• Research team members

• Progress over the past 15 months

• Work Plan for 2018-19

• Wrap-up and summary

• Next steps

• This project addresses the Agricultural Water Use Efficiency priority of the AGGP.

• It aims to investigate the effects of different beneficial water management systems in

Eastern Canada on GHG emissions and the adoption of these BMPs by farmers in the

region.

• The principal objective is to identify, develop and disseminate information for

beneficial water management practices which simultaneously reduces GHG emissions,

increases agricultural productivity and produces environmental co-benefits.

• The project is driven by Canada’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions and in order

to adapt to global climate change.

• It builds on a successful Phase 1 where we developed very extensive partnerships with

agricultural producers, producers’ organizations, universities (McGill, Dalhousie,

Saskatchewan and Guelph), and federal and provincial stakeholders in the Nova Scotia,

Quebec and Ontario.

AGGP Phase II

An Integrated Socio-economic and Biophysical Framework for Mitigating

Greenhouse Gas Emissions under Agricultural Water Management Systems

in Eastern Canada

C. Madramootoo, Principal Investigator (McGill)

J. Whalen (McGill)

V. Adamchuk (McGill)

Abdolhamid Shafaroud Akbarzadeh (McGill)

Zhiming Qi (McGill)

C. Tan, T. Zhang (AFFC-Harrow)

Dalhousie (TBC - Stephen Clark, Thomas Bouman)

S. Kulshreshtha (Saskatchewan)

Asim Biswas (Guelph)

Research Team:

Phase I• Emphasis on Biophysical

Monitoring

• Provided an extensive

database on GHG emissions

under various soil, water and

crop conditions

65°0'0"W

65°0'0"W

70°0'0"W

70°0'0"W

75°0'0"W

75°0'0"W

80°0'0"W

80°0'0"W

55°0'0"N 55°0'0"N

50°0'0"N 50°0'0"N

45°0'0"N 45°0'0"N

Truro

St. Louis de Blandford

Sherrington

St. Emmanuel

Leamington

Harrow

U S A

Québec

Ontario

Nova Scotia

CANADA

Hallow Marsh

Phase I Experimental Sites (2012-2016)

Macdonald Campus

Field data collection – Built an extensive

georeferenced database Water Analysis

Dissolved organic C

NH4

NO3

Dissolved organic N

Particulate N

Ortho-P

Dissolved organic P

Particulate P

Agronomic Data

Crop height

Crop yield at harvest

Grain and stover/straw biomass (by

weighing) and determine N content

of grain and stover/straw

Field Survey and Mapping

Field elevation maps

Apparent soil electrical conductivity

Soil optical reflectance

(in some cases)

Mid-season crop canopy reflectance

(chlorophyll index)

Crop height

Satellite imagery

Gamma-radiometry

Hyperspectral soil profiling with

electrical conductivity and

mechanical impedance

Temporal monitoring of water and

temperature in strategic locations

Soil Physical Analysis

Texture

Bulk density

Hydraulic conductivity

Porosity

Soil Chemical Analysis

Organic matter

pH

Total C

Total N

KCl-extractable N (NH4 plus NO3)

Mehlich-3 extractable P

K

Al

Greenhouse Gas Sampling

N2O, CH4 and CO2 (using the closed

chamber technique)

Dissolved N2O (in tile drainage

and./or surface water at selected

sampling dates)

Soil moisture and temperature

monitoring

N2O Emissions - 2014

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• Precipitation, fertilizer rates and timing, and soil type highly influenced emissions of

N2O and CO2.

• Method of irrigation had a lesser impact on gas fluxes.

• We found large variances in gas emissions from adjacent chambers in irrigated

vegetable fields located on organic soils.

• CH4 fluxes remained close to zero, indicating a balance of methane production and

oxidation processes.

• An economic analysis revealed that water management systems increased crop yield,

crop and soil quality, and has the potential to reduce both atmospheric GHG emissions

(N2O and CO2), and nutrient loading in watershed which improves water quality by

over 50%.

• Reduction of GHG emissions alone are not sufficient for farmers to implement water

management BMPSs.

Key Findings From Phase I

Impacts:

Total number of papers and journal articles: 32

Total number of presentations given at conferences or meetings: 36

Total number of students trained (BSc, MSc, PhD): 29

Total number of methodologies and BMPs developed: 11

Numerous presentations at national and international conferences and

workshops

In order for farmers to adopt water management BMPs, it is imperative to evaluate

the water management systems and present results of all the co-benefits (improved

water quality, farm profitability, increased agricultural productivity, increased water

availability, and reduced farmer vulnerability).

Going from Phase I to Phase II

The Phase II Study has three well defined components:

• Socio-economic and modelling components which will build upon biophysical and

other measurements in the following agro-ecological zones of eastern Canada: St.

Emmanuel (Quebec), Harrow (Ontario), Holland Marsh (Ontario), Truro (Nova

Scotia), Sherrington (Quebec), and Macdonald Campus Farm (Quebec).

• Using the biophysical database from Phase 1, we propose to develop a rigorous

process-based model relating GHG emissions to water use, agronomic practices, soil

properties, and environmental parameters. This model will be used to better

understand and explain spatial and temporal GHG emissions and to advise an

improved GHG sampling strategy for the field based measurements in the different

water management systems.

• A more in-depth field study on soil microbial processes will be conducted in order to

understand how these processes influence C:N cycling and carbon sequestration in the

soil profile and their impact on N2O and CO2 production under different water use

(sprinkler irrigation and controlled drainage/sub-irrigation), crop (vegetable, cereal

and dairy pasture) and soil type (mineral and organic).

• A multidisciplinary and collaborative approach will establish links between

stakeholders, and build a world-class research and technology transfer network

along the knowledge continuum.

• Integrate more closely with agricultural producers in Nova Scotia, Quebec and

Ontario to achieve broader impact and to determine the policy drivers for

technology adoption

Need to achieve impact and satisfy AAFC goals

Bolstering the Socio-Economic Component

• Professor Suren Kulshreshtha (Univ. Saskatchewan)

• Mfon Essien (PhD student, McGill)

• Rene Roy (McGill)

• Robert Cairns (McGill)

• TBC - Stephen Clark, Emmanuel Yiridoe (Dalhousie)

Activity # Description

1 Project start-up and inception

2 Recruitment, retention and training of HQP –2017

3 HQP training and knowledge dissemination completed -2019

4 Recruitment, retention and training of HQP – 2019

5 HQP training and knowledge dissemination completed -2021

6 Socio-Economic model development - 2017-2020

7 Biophysical computational model development -2017-2021

8 Annual installation of field equipment – 2017-2020

9 Annual Biophysical data collection – 2017-2021

10 Annual Socio-economic data collection -2017-2021

11 Analyze biophysical data – 2017-2021

12 Analyze socio-economic data – 2019-2021

13 Annual meeting with producers, stakeholders to review data

14 Annual implementation and testing of refined BMPs with producers

15 Prepare and present final report to AAFC - 2021

Work Plan

• Procurement of PICARRO N2O and CO2 analyzers

• Gas measurements at St. Emmanuel, Holland Marsh

and Harrow

• Development of CO2 portable sensor

• Socio-economics framing

• GHG modelling at 3 sites

• Preparation of materials and meetings with agricultural

producers in Quebec

• Student guidance and meetings

Work Conducted in 2017-18

Picarro model G2201-I Dual Carbon Isotope Analyzer(δ13C in CO2 and CH4).

The Picarro G2508 gas concentration analyzer radically simplifies soil flux studies by simultaneously measuring five gases―N2O, CH4, CO2, NH3 and H2O―in real-time to provide a complete picture of greenhouse gas soil emissions.

Milestone 3. Socio-Economic model development

Activity

3.1 Data collection to model and develop whole farm budget (January 2017-March

2018)

3.2 Hold farmer and stakeholder workshops (January 2017-March 2018)

3.3 Developing life cycle analysis model using data collected in Phase 1 and in the

first two years of the project (January 2017-December 2018)

3.4 Developing multi-criteria analysis model (January 2018-December 2018)

3.5 Developing DSSAT model (January 2019-March 2020)

Deliverable

3. Robust economic and environmental evaluation of beneficial water management

systems

Milestone 4. Computational model development

Activity

4.1 Spatio-temporal analysis of GHG emissions data collected in Phase 1 (January 2017-

December 2019)

4.2 Developing a biophysical-based GHG emission management tool using the findings in the

Phase 1 (January 2017-December 2020)

4.3 Developing a robust hybrid metamodel for the prediction of GHG emissions (January

2018-December 2020)

4.4 Determining BMPs to mitigate GHG emissions while maximizing economic crop yields

(January 2018-March 2021)

Deliverable

4. Development of a robust hybrid deterministic-statistical methodology to analyze

the experimental data of GHG emission measurements, precisely predicting

agricultural GHG emissions in both temporal and spatial domains, and

development of a biophysical model to simulate GHG emission under alternative

management practices. The developed computational model will not only analyze

and predict the GHG emissions, but will also analyze the economic impact of the

proposed technologies/methodologies for the mitigation of GHG emissions.

Milestone 7. Socio-economic data gathering

Activity

7.1 First season of economic data collection (January 2017-March 2018)

7.2 Second season of economic data collection (April 2018-March 2019)

7.3 Third season of economic data collection (April 2019-March 2020)

7.4 Fourth season of economic data collection (April 2020-March 2021)

Deliverable

7. Collection of farm level data (i.e., farm size, farm characteristics, farmers opinion,

farm practices)

Milestone 9. Analyze socio-economic data

Activity

9.1 Distribution of questionnaires and surveys and the analysis of the data collected

(October 2019-March 2021)

Deliverable

9. Results of regression analysis leading to the understanding of the adoption

determinants in each region of the beneficial water management practices under each

specific crop.

Merci beaucoup