Avena Customer and Farmer Appreciation Day 2024 Tour – Scaling regen ag

A huge shout out to Avena farmers Colin Rosengren and Shannon Knibbs for hosting Avena’s annual Customer and Farmer Appreciation Day (CAFAD) field tour in southeast Saskatchewan. The tour showcased how Canadian Prairie farms are scaling up regen ag practices. Colin lead the group through fields of canola/pea and flax/chickpea intercropping, while Shannon demonstrated a five-acre pollinator strip next to a field of organic oat and pea intercrop.

Food manufacturers from across North America joined farmers, agronomists, researchers and civil society representatives to explore and learn – ‘harnessing the power of regenerative ag partnerships’ in action.

Research partners for the day included: Big Mountain Foods, Bob’s Red Mill, Collective Impact Ag, Danone Canada, Field to Market Canada, Hippeas, Huel, Old Dutch, Once Upon a Farm, Only Oats, Protein Industries Canada, SouthEast Research Farm, TheoryMesh and Warburtons.

Avena Purity Protocol gluten-free oats and pulse egg replacer were featured in a delicious lunch served at the Midale, SK. rink. Avena Best Pulse Visco Enhancer NB was used in an egg-free mayonnaise to make a vegan potato salad with excellent taste, texture, and appearance. Avena Purity Protocol gluten-free rolled oats were included in a Saskatoon Berry dessert parfait. Thank you to our local caterer Spilchuk Meats for creating these recipes with Avena ingredients.

Regan Ferguson of Collective Impact Ag, delivered an excellent presentation on pollinator strip impact projects, the early results and anticipated benefits. HIPPEAS and Once Upon a Farm are sponsoring these projects. Avena, the implementation partner, coordinates reports, and provides social media materials.

In the following presentation, Chris Bunio of TheoryMesh shared insight into the processes of tracking and measuring regenerative ag farm practices for improved efficiency, productivity and traceability, using high tech data systems. A visit to Rosengren Farms in the afternoon, demonstrated how these systems are integrated into existing equipment.

What did we learn?

1. The Canadian Prairies are vast and beautiful, dotted with thriving rural communities.
2. Amongst farmers, there is a healthy curiosity and a groundswell of interest in regenerative ag practices building. We could have spent hours at each of our three field stops answering questions from producers on the tour.
3. If you know where to look, or who to travel with, you can find field scale intercrops and pollinator strips across the plains.
4. “Hot Spots” occur in unproductive sections of land, often along the roadside. Pollinator strips can be planted to restore productivity to these marginal areas.
5. The benefits of a pollinator strip will amplify over time – many of the clovers and flowering grasses in the strip we toured are only getting started in this first year. Next summer these are expected to thrive, re-seed and fill in, thus increasing soil health, weed suppression, water infiltration and biodiversity. Stay tuned.
6. Farmers can use customized equipment to harvest intercrops with a single pass. Colin Rosengren displayed a harvester which he and his team designed to separate the flax and peas right as they come off the intercropped field.
7. Automated scanners and computers on farm equipment can trace the movement of grain from field to factory, telling the whole story of the crops and providing actual Scope 3 data. Rosengren Farms showcased a system that they designed with Canadian tech company, TheoryMesh.

Thank you to everyone who travelled with us on this insightful day –

Partnering for safe, healthy diets and a sustainable world.