Drawing from his experience in Zero Till farming, a deep commitment to climate responsibility, and a passion for leaving a better world for his grandchildren, Rourke offers a grounded yet innovative perspective on how farmers can lead in the fight against global warming. 

What exactly is “net positive carbon grain farming” and why is it important? 

David Rourke: “Net Positive”, or “NP” carbon grain farming is the ability to drastically lower emissions and increase carbon sequestration to the point where sequestration is larger than emissions. While many countries and companies have a target of Net Zero in place for 2050, grain farmers [are sought] due to the ability to sequester atmospheric [carbon] into the soil. This helps increase the productivity of the fields at the same time as it sequesters the extra carbon. This makes farming quite unique. 

Why does your research focus on the Northern Great Plains?   

David Rourke: While most of my work is in Western Canada, the term Great Plains also included the western plains of the USA. Three of my participants were from North and South Dakota. The Great Plains are a semi arid to sub-humid growing region, making them distinctly different from the humid soil zones of Eastern North America where 40 inches of rain is normal, whereas the Great Plains would have 10 to 20 inches of annual participation. Some “Best Management Practices”, or “BMPs” that work well in a place like Guelph fail when tried in the Great Plains area — unless there is irrigation. 

A series of different sized equipment used by David Rourke on the farm.

What is your background like, and how has it influenced your approach to this work? 

David Rourke: First, I am an active grain farmer in the Great Plains and have experienced the effects of limited rainfall and occasionally excessive precipitation. My MSc looked at crop residue management in Zero Till. I have been using Zero Till to limit erosion, increase water use efficiency and fertiliser efficiency since 1980. Although from time to time I have ventured off the path looking for something better, repeatedly a Zero Till based production system gives the best results. However, my general rule is that when something becomes the preferred system of production and is used continually, nature finds a way to leverage those vulnerabilities. Zero till’s vulnerability is herbicide resistance; we must be vigilant in this regard. 

What methods of analysis have you found most instrumental in your studies, and why? 

David Rourke: My study used narrative research based on in-depth qualitative interviews. Using a number of sources and connections I was able to identify 16 participants who I considered to be interested in and, in some cases, successfully active in developing Net Positive practices on their own farms. Dr. Debra Davidson, in a 2019 study conducted in Alberta, found up to 90% of the farmers surveyed did not believe the climate was changing or did not believe the 100 million barrels of oil equivalents that the world uses every day could possibly have any effect on the climate. Thus, to find these 16 participants that believe in anthropogenic global warming, or “AGW”, and want to be part of the solutions makes them innovative and unique. 

Can you expand on your journey as a student, and what led you to studying at the Natural Resources Institute? 

David Rourke: When I first looked for a project, a university, and an advisor to do the PhD, I looked at several quantitative projects at North Dakota State University, University of Saskatchewan, University of Guelph as well as UM. After a discussion with Dr. Martin Entz about a project where I would interview farmers on their innovative practices, he suggested I talk to Dr. Iain Davidson-Hunt at the Natural Resources Institute at the UM. This was the right choice for the project and for me. Covid was a blessing for me and my project. I took all my courses online and did all my interviews on Zoom. It was efficient and low carbon. I perhaps did not have as much collegial interactions as would 25-year-old on-site students, but being an active farmer and living 250 km from the UM, [along with] Covid and on-line technology made the project feasible. 

While my scientific experience in the 45 years leading up to my PhD study was in quantitative science (small plot replicated research), I was looking for a new system; a system developed by farmers who were already trying to address AGW. And at the same time looking to record their successes, enablers, as well as failures, or at least the gaps and barriers that limited their ability to move the needle. I developed the BERT/E adoption rating score allowing me to characterize the strength of BMPs that were being promoted in Western Canada to tackle AGW.  The interdisciplinary approach used at NRI was an excellent fit to this type of qualitative discovery.

David Rourke posing for a photo on “Rourke Farms” property.

You’ve mentioned your grandchildren as a key factor in your motivation behind your work. Could you expand on how they inform your research? 

David Rourke: There is a saying, if you were born in Canada, you have won the lottery of life. I have had a blessed life, I have been privileged, not that I come from a rich family or was given a large sum of money to start life. I was privileged to be encouraged and enabled to go to university, to find a life partner when I was only 17, being given a chance to rent 300 acres to farm as a start and over time able to buy 6000 acres, completing a M.Sc. degree and then using all of that to leverage many opportunities, including the development of the largest independent field research service company in Western Canada. The point is for the last 100 years the world has grown in an unbelievable way based on the ignorance of negative externalities caused by our fossil fuel-based societies.  It is “payback time” if we have any hope of our descendants to have anywhere close to the blessed life our generation has had. Pope Francis in his “Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality”, states that man has created this climate change problem and it is not right to pass it on to the next generation, we must take responsibility now. I have 9 grandkids who depend on us to make the right decision and actions now. 

Have you noticed any challenges or pushback from other farmers? What opinions have you encountered?  

David Rourke: I developed the language and an approach for my research so that my conversations with farmers and others working in western agriculture were a step in the evolution of best management farm practices (BMPs). Fortunately, the ways to become Net Positive are also ways to increase profitability and resilience on many Western Canadian farms.  I use [terms] such as No Regret BMPs, Neutral BMPs , Sacrifice or even Dead End BMPs to sharpen the point of the readiness of specific BMPs to be taken up by western grain farmers in their farming operations. Being a commercial grain farmer helps me to consider language that will speak to farmers in their assessment of BMPs to move towards net positive for their farms. Unless the BMPs can make farm practice either more profitable, faster, or easier to do they are not likely to be adopted by farmers. This is not theory – it is reality on my farm as it is on all farms. I have found some people that get quite excited believing that AGW is not a real thing. We need to find the common ground focusing on BMPs that are good for the farmer, society, and the environment – I believe my research is a step towards that goal. 

A diagram created by David Rourke that illustrates his “General Farm Practice Change Theory”.

What’s next for you and your work?  

David Rourke: I am looking for opportunities to use my finding to help move the needle. I have made presentations to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada’s agriculture policy advisors, to conservation NGOs, and to farm groups who believe in Net Positive. I have an extensive quantitative field research program on Soil Health, Biological Nitrogen replacement products and a Zero Till project on dry beans, which can be tricky to get just right. My field tour was July 29th, 2025 at Minto, Manitoba. The plot work is supported by Living Labs, (Manitoba Association of Watershed and AAFC), Scotiabank, MB Forage and Grassland Association, MB Pulse and Soybean Growers, MB Crop Alliance, and MB Canola Growers. 

I am also pursuing the development of a Net Positive Farm Network and NP Community of Practice. The NP Network would be a think tank and information sharing network but could also be valuable as a unique interface to connect with what I call the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) companies who have set Net Zero by 2050 pledges and are looking for Net Zero or NP supply chains. This would help identify gaps and solutions, and in the end, help demonstrate new No Regret BMPs. 

“Even if I was reluctant at first, over the 21 years I had been working in nursing, I had fallen in love with the profession and so it only made sense for me to pursue my master’s degree,” said Van Haute. “Out of all the mainstream health professions, to me, nursing offers the most holistic patient-centred and family-centred lens on how to care for people and how to design and plan health systems and that’s what I’m really interested in.”

Having completed her master’s, she jokes that she is now in nursing school for the fifth time as she works to complete her PhD. Her research, concentrated in Churchill, Manitoba, focuses on incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing to guide health systems planning, including the use of traditional healing practices into the health system. Her project, tied directly to truth and reconciliation, asks what it means to privilege Indigenous ways of knowing and doing alongside more mainstream health services.

“The goal is to bring together Indigenous community members, Knowledge Keepers, and health facility staff to have conversations around where we’ve been, where are we now, and where we want to go in the future. By creating spaces for dialogue on how to bring together different and sometimes opposing worldview, we can find a way to move forward collectively. Then [we will] hopefully apply these learnings across Canada, but especially to the larger part of the health system here in Manitoba,” she said.

Van Haute wanted to pursue a PhD because she saw it as an opportunity to promote Indigenous health equity, an area of study she’s passionate about. Wanting to honour that with as much time and space as possible, and recognizing the intense mental focus and concentration completing a PhD requires, she applied for and received the 2023-24 Indigenous Doctoral Program Fellowship and the 2023-24 Foundation for Registered Nurses of Manitoba Inc. Graduate Scholarship and Award.

“I am so grateful to receive these awards because they’ve allowed me to carve out some time to give myself and others the gift of doing my dissertation work in a good way,” she said. “Throughout my academic career, I have always worked close to full-time while also being a full-time student. My goal for when I completed my coursework for my PhD program was not to work so that I could devote my time to my research and to the community of Churchill.”

Another reason Van Haute wanted to pursue a PhD is because she knows that social advancements rooted in political activism also require support from structures such as academia to bring meaningful and systemic change. This research is a great example of that because it allows for the centering of the voices of Indigenous community members working alongside Indigenous and non-Indigenous clinicians and health leaders, who may have previously not been able to influence changes to the health system. By using her own and others’ lived experience, she can uncover where the health system’s priorities have conflicted with the community’s and support the community to move forward together.

“While I’m truly grateful and feel honoured for the scholarships and fellowships I’ve received, I believe this funding is about so much more than just me,” she said. “Scholarships, like I’ve received, are about supporting students that are going to be carrying this forward for the next generation. In turn, they will pass it on again, hopefully toward the advancement of society as a whole.”

As a Métis woman from the Red River Métis settlement here in Treaty 1 Territory, Van Haute is also thankful for the opportunity to connect with her Indigenous community.

“I’m learning how beautiful reclamation of culture and reclamation of ceremony can be and what that can mean for people in the community,” she said. “Coming out of Africa, working in famine, working with war zones, I was carrying a large amount of vicarious trauma and not realizing the impact it was having on me. I wasn’t born in culture, so when I started healing and connecting to my culture through my ceremony family, it shifted the way I understood things and brought together my nursing experience with traditional health and healing practices.”

Dr. Zhenyu Wu, Asper Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Research Programs, and Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, helped spearhead the approval of the new stream.

“I’m thrilled by this new concentration of the Ph.D. in Management program at Asper, and confident that it will substantially broaden the scope of our research graduate programs and encourage more collaboration towards research excellence at our School,” said Wu.

As one of the first Ph.D. programs in supply chain management in Canada with a supply chain focus, there is a growing need for Canadian-trained management academics and increased market demand for trained supply chain professionals.  Within Asper, this demand is reflected in the rising interest for the supply chain major within the Bachelor of Commerce program. According to application statistics, supply chain is the fastest-growing major in the Asper undergraduate program, with an almost 40% increase in student interest in the last two years.

According to Professor S.S. Appadoo, Head of the Department of Supply Chain Management, the Ph.D. program in supply chain is for students interested in becoming professors and academic researchers in the field. Students admitted to the program will have the opportunity to work in an active research environment and while gaining knowledge in supply chain management’s theoretical and substantive areas, along with some teaching opportunities within the faculty.

“We will ensure that our faculty members collaborate with students throughout the program to make them great scholars and educators. We have a fantastic team of high-caliber research scholars in the department,” said Dr. Appadoo. “Based on our rich research publications record and research grant inputs, our objective is to make this Ph.D. program in SCM at the Asper School of Business among the best in the region. We are committed to working together to advance supply chain research and education.”

Students joining the Ph.D. program will benefit from two significant factors.  The location in Manitoba, a continental hub for transportation and logistics and the connection to the University of Manitoba Transport Institute.  Located at the Asper School of Business, the Transport Institute is a world-renowned research institute in transportation and logistics. Transport Institute researchers play a key role in undertaking outstanding collaborative scholarly research and publications, facilitating the transfer of knowledge to students to become competent scholars in transportation and logistics.

“One thing that excites me about the launch of our Ph.D. program in Supply Chain Management is the opportunity to pay it forward. Every researcher has benefitted in some way from the mentorship and support of more senior people in their field, either as teachers, collaborators, or advisors,” said Dr. Kelsey Taylor, Asper Assistant Professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management. “I look forward to being able to return the favour and provide that same support to our incoming Ph.D. students and cement the SCM department’s reputation as a place where high-impact research happens.” 

Dr. Bruno Silvestre, who began his official five-year term as Dean of the I. H. Asper School of Business on July 1, 2022, is thrilled about the growth of supply chain at the Asper School of Business.

Silvestre is a CN Professor in Supply Chain Management, former Director of the Transport Institute, and tenured professor in Supply Chain. He also spearheaded the development of the new Master of Supply Chain Management and Logistics at the Asper School of Business in 2021.

“Asper’s new offering is an extraordinary opportunity for students and faculty looking to fulfill the increasing need for Canadian-trained supply chain professionals,” said Silvestre. “Thank you to the tremendous efforts and contributions of all members of our SCM team for making this Ph.D. concentration a reality. We look forward to welcoming our first cohort of students in 2023.”

Koe Yoshino, who is from Tokyo, Japan, learned about the UM program after completing his master’s degree in peace education at the University for Peace in Costa Rica.

“I am passionate about pursuing my academic interest in peace and sustainability, but it’s not easy to find a doctoral program with a focus on sustainability education. I felt very fortunate to encounter such a rare opportunity here at the University of Manitoba.”

Yoshino is now studying in a UM cohort program for sustainability and wellbeing in the Faculty of Education.

Yoshino says the University of Manitoba is a choice for many international students because of its high standard of teaching and the student-centered attitude of faculty and staff.

“The University of Manitoba has gained its reputation due to the higher quality of faculty support for students,” Yoshino says. “In the Faculty of Education, I always appreciate my advisor’s friendly attitude and generous offer of his time for a discussion on my thesis. Other prestigious universities tend to be too busy to take care of students, but as far as my personal experience has shown me, UM is a student-friendly campus in terms of their attitude and devotion to students.”

Louise Simard, acting Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, says every year, the UM welcomes international doctoral students from around the globe.

“Students love the opportunity to live in Canada and get a great education while they’re here. Our PhD students work directly with outstanding researchers and have the opportunity to contribute work on research that will shape our world.”

In addition to his doctoral research, Yoshino works as the International Students Arrival Coordinator. He says international students are very satisfied with the University.

“In my experience over the past five years, I see international students have a positive feeling about UM in terms of its study environment and university staff and instructors,” Yoshino says. “Personally, I appreciate receiving a University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship (UMGF) and other financial support for conference presentations.”

Yoshino says international students appreciate UM’s reasonable tuition fees. Starting in the Fall 2020 term, UM began offering international doctoral students the same tuition rate as PhD students who are residents of Canada. These are among the lowest fees in Canada for international doctoral students.

“I’ve had this kind of conversation with other students and most students appreciate the far lower tuition at UM than at other universities,” he says. “Living in Manitoba seems to us very safe and affordable in terms of health care and financial support from the government.”

Yoshino says many international students are also attracted to UM because of Manitoba’s nominee program for those seeking permanent residence status in Canada.

“The program makes us feel more qualified for our permanent residence application in the future. This is one of the great incentives for us to choose UM for our destination,” he says.