Old's College of Agriculture and Technology was one of the stops for the Senate Agriculture Committee as they gathered more information for their upcoming report on Canada's Soil Health.

The vice president of research at Old's Dr Joy Agnew says they talked about the need and benefit of investing in agricultural research and the fact that funding for college-based research should be reviewed.

Agnew says they talked about some of the work being done at the "SMART" farm, with a key emphasis on the work they are doing around environmental stewardship.

"We were able to showcase a lot of the work we're doing on greenhouse gas emissions from different fertilizer regimes like the 4R nutrient stewardship type of practices. We were able to talk quite a bit about the work that we're doing for the cow-calf sector and in the feedlot sector. Looking at feeding trials and monitoring enteric emissions from cattle, and then all of the work that we're doing with basic agronomy and soil health monitoring, with best management practices being deployed."

Agnew says overall, Canadian farmers are leading the way when it comes to sustainable food production, but it seems like not everybody knows that. 

"So we really need to help craft that message and share good information, good tidbits about the fact that we already have one of the lowest carbon footprints per pound of food production in the world. And we need to celebrate that and make sure that ongoing policies and programs recognize that as well."