Do you remember that TV ad from the last summer Olympics? The one with the Canadian athletes talking about their preparation for the upcoming games in Sydney? In one clip, 3-time gold medallist rower, Marnie McBean, says, "I don't train for the good days. I train for the bad days".
This principal for training epitomizes that of the soil conservationist's for production: we farm to protect the soil on those "bad days". It explains why we direct seed, plant shelterbelts, seed grass runways and undertake many other conservation activities - to be prepared for the inevitable bad days that everyone gets, Olympians and producers alike.
For those of us raised on the prairies, the best way to describe our weather is "the only constant is change." We live in a climate where extremes are the norm. Drought has always been a fact of life. The old adage "we are always one rain away from a drought" holds true most years. Cloudbursts of 2 or more inches of rain are infrequent, but sometimes they cause as much or more erosion damage as the wind. Yes, let's not forget that wind - if it is calm now, wait 5 minutes. You never know what weather system will blow in next.
Be it a heavy down pour of rain or parched fields blasted by 70 to 100+ kmph wind gusts, the one thing experience has taught us is these extremes will repeat themselves. So as producers what can we do? By altering Marnie McBean's quote with agriculture in mind, it might read something like this: "we farm our soils with the bad days in mind, not the good". If we truly are stewards of the land, then we should keep soil conservation at the forefront of all farm-related activities.
As we farm our soil, every decision we make should meet this criteria: the soil will be left in a state in which it can survive and prosper not only on the good days but also on the bad days. These photos are not from the dirty thirties. They're not even from the 1988 drought. They were taken in 2001. Luckily, fields like this are the exception, not the rule. But soil drifting and difficulties establishing small seeded crops have been common problems in many areas this year.
The year 2001 has re-emphasized the need for our production decisions to be based on farming with the "bad days" in mind. Every action should meet this tough criterion of bad days. By protecting our soil resource we are investing in the future.
Like Marnie McBean, we never know if tomorrow is going to be a bad day or a good day, but planning for the tough ones gets us closer to the podium. If we farm with the bad days in mind, success both economically and ecologically, are sure to follow.