The federal
government is giving the University of Waterloo $1.9 million to study cropping,
livestock and other practices that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It seems rather
strange since the University of Waterloo has neither crop research plots nor
livestock, yet the University of Guelph nearby has plenty of both.
However, the
Member of Parliament for the constituency in which the University of Waterloo
is located is Bardish Chagger, a rookie who impressed Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau enough that he appointed her to cabinet as government house leader and
minister of small business and tourism.
In a news
release, the government says the money will be used in four priority areas of research: livestock systems,
cropping systems, agricultural water use efficiency and agro-forestry.
‘The new
AGGP investments will continue to support the work of the Global Research
Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, which brings together 47 countries
to find ways to grow more food without growing greenhouse gas emissions,’ the
news release said.
Buck Ross of Moorefield last year showed Chaggir his cover crops that capture greenhouse gases and recommended the government subsidize farmers so they could capture, not simply reduce, greenhouse gas emissions.
Ross's cover crops are typical of the new generation of complex mixtures, such as turnips, deep-rooted radishes, clovers, sunflowers, etc.
