Tips for Celebrating Earth Day

Earth Day is tomorrow, Friday, April 22. Earth Day is recognized globally by people from all walks of life as a way to foster and celebrate environmental respect and behavioural changes that lessen our impact on the earth.

Cattle producers across Canada, who chose to make their living as stewards of the land, fully appreciate the value of a healthy environment. For all of us in the Canadian beef industry, Earth Day is a day to celebrate our industry’s environmental achievements, and is an excellent time to foster further discussion about how to make continual improvements in this area.

Earth Day and every day is a great time to brush up on your science-based knowledge of the environmental footprint of Canadian beef production, and share what you know with the world.

Learn more here:

• Environmental Footprint of Beef Production
• The Environmental Hoofprint of Canadian Beef Production: Producing beef with lower GHG emissions and using fewer resources
  

Share your knowledge and start conversations with consumers online:

Hashtags: #EarthDay2016, #EarthDay #EarthDayEveryDay #lovecdnbeef #CanadianBeef #farmvoices #AgMoreThanEver #agvocate #agproud #farm365

Add your own photos or the ‘Raise your Beef IQ’ images found here.

Sample Facebook posts:

• Happy #EarthDay! Did you know Canadian beef production is getting more efficient all the time? Producing the same amount of beef in 2011 required 29% less breeding stock, 27% fewer slaughter cattle and 24% less land, and produced 15% less greenhouse gases than in 1981! http://www.beefresearch.ca/blog/producing-beef-with-lower-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-using-fewer-resources/
• Happy #EarthDay2016! Did you know forages (grasses and legumes that feed ruminant animals) provide many ecosystem services to society, including carbon sequestration, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and nutrient cycling? Forages also improve soil quality, prevent erosion and help manage excess moisture on the land. Many acres of forages are seeded or maintained because they’re relied upon in livestock production, which often utilizes land that is unsuitable for other agriculture purposes to sustainably produce nutrient rich food. [suggest adding photos of your hayland or pastures]
• Happy #EarthDay2016! On our farm we use horses as a part of our #greencommute. [suggest inserting picture of you on horseback]
• It’s #EarthDayEveryDay on the farm. Thanks to everyone who supports Canadian beef. We’re proud to be your farmers/ranchers!
• Happy #EarthDay2016 everyone! On our farm we… [insert your own management practice. For example, maintain shelterbelts and healthy riparian areas to help protect habitat for many different species, etc.]

Sample Twitter posts:

• On #EarthDayEveryDay, grasslands preserve wetlands and provide habitat to many species at risk. #lovecdnbeef
• Research shows each pound of Canadian beef produced in 2011 produced fewer GHG and used less resources than 1981 #earthday
• Did you know grasslands for grazing livestock capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere?
• Grasslands benefit enviro thru carbon sequestration, wildlife habitats, biodiversity, healthy watersheds & reduced soil erosion #EarthDay
• If technology was frozen in 1955, we’d need 45 million more acres to produce same about of Cdn beef today. #EarthDay2016
• Thanks to research and innovation, each lb of beef produced today uses 14% less water, 34% less land than in 1977 #EarthDay #lovecdnbeef
• Cdn cattlemen use own $’s to fund research to maximize efficiency, minimize enviro footprint and more beefresearch.ca #EarthDay2016
• Q: How much feed and water are used to make a pound of beef?
  A: http://www.beefresearch.ca/blog/cattle-feed-water-use/ #EarthDay #FarmVoices

Follow @BeefResearch

Start the conversation with other producers online

Hashtags: #EarthDay2016, #EarthDay #agchat #cdnag #westcdnag #ontag #atlcdnag

Add your own photos or the ‘Raise your Beef IQ’ images found here.

Sample Facebook posts:

• Hey cattle friends, today is #EarthDay. Honor it by learning more about taking good care of your land, like manure and nutrient management or rangeland and riparian health.
• Hey cattle friends, today is #EarthDay. Find information about the six principles of on farm biodiversity conservation here.

Sample Twitter posts:

• Hey cattle friends, today is #EarthDay. Honor it by learning more about manure and nutrient management #cdnag
• For my cattle friends, today is #EarthDay2016! Honor it by learning more about rangeland and riparian health.
• #EarthDay is a good time to be inspired by past winners of The Environmental Stewardship Award.
• #EarthDay is a good day to consider an off-site watering system for your livestock to maintain the quality and supply of water
• #EarthDay is a good day to connect w/ ag focused enviro orgs like @CowsandFish @MULTISAR @OGC_AB @MBConsDistAssoc#FRISP @SaskPCAP #EFP