Dr. Brad Stelfox chronicles the past and projected land-use future of Alberta with a specific focus on agriculture. Agriculture was the first, largest and most dramatic development in Alberta. The cumulative effects of agriculture has had its own specific impact on biodiversity and soil carbon. Agricultural land fragmentation grows as 20% of the Alberta population prefers to live in rural acreages in the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. Urban design is a profound conversation that Albertans need to have as its major cities and towns grow out and not up. Sprawl is and will be a major consumer of Alberta's best soils. And the driver is the value of agricultural land versus the value of industrial and residential land.
Under current trends, Alberta will become a net importer of food by 2055, not what is generally forecast for Alberta's agriculture. Dr. Stelfox concludes by making the case that natural capital (soil fertility, soil carbon etc) and economic activity in Alberta are tied, particularly for agriculture. A society that does not value and protect ecological goods and services is going to draw down the natural capital that fuels its economy to the point of serious economic and environmental consequences.
Dr. Brad Stelfox is a land ecologist, founder and principal of FOREM Technologies and the ACLES Group. He developed the ACLES model, a landscape cumulative effects simulator. He is an adjunct professor with the Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta and the Dept. of Environmental Design, University of Calgary. His keynote presentation was part of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists' Banff Conference, Mar. 26-28, 2013
