Innovation report | Agriculture requires greater attention from policy makers, says committee co-chair
The Senate agriculture committee has compiled 19 recommendations designed to foster continued innovation and scientific research in Canada’s agriculture sector.
The 118-page report, Innovation in Agriculture: The Key to Feeding a Growing Population, was released June 18 in Ottawa.
It is the product of a Senate study that began in October 2011 and included testimony from 170 witnesses across the supply chain.
Committee chair Percy Mockler said continued support for agricultural research is a key thrust.
“The committee is not requesting a specific amount, but we’re asking governments and stakeholders or private sector to sit down and share their best ag research knowledge and also their best practices,” Mockler said.
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“And if they do that, there is no doubt in my mind that we will position Canada … as being innovation-led.”
He said federal and provincial governments must act as facilitators in ensuring continued research in agriculture.
No. 15 on the report’s list recommends that the federal government “reinstate agri-food as a priority research area for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the National Research Council (of) Canada.
In a news conference announcing the study’s release, committee co-chair Terry Mercer reiterated the need for agriculture to be a priority area of research.
“We need to put agriculture and agri-food back on everybody’s agenda … and that means it requires the focus of all members of Parliament, all members of the Senate. Also, we need to then try to find a way to engage Canadians,” Mercer said.
He said the country’s research centres could be better used.
The report acknowledges that controversy surrounds some agricultural innovation but does not provide specifics.
“It is also important to enhance the value of agricultural workers and to raise public awareness about the realities of the agriculture and agri-food sector to dispel the negative perceptions the public may have regarding the consumption of products derived from new methods or technologies,” the report said.
The first part of the Senate study comprises a description of factors shaping agriculture, among them a growing world population, pressures from climate change, the high cost of getting into farming and “lack of interest from young people in this sector.”
The second part explores interest in innovation from the private sector and the roles government can play in regulations, standards, funding and research.
The third portion outlines areas that could be strengthened so that the sector can fully benefit from research and innovation.
Recommendations include:
- completing amendments to the Seeds Act to modernize the variety registration and accelerate the approval process for plants with novel traits
- adopting UPOV 91, the international convention for protection of new varieties of plants
- continuing pesticide research on efficacy and safety and reducing the number of conditional registrations on pest control products
- developing ways to reduce time for evaluation of data when assessing food additives and novel foods, including biotech-derived foods, before commercialization
- implementing a new national disease surveillance plan under the Canadian Food Inspection Service
- reviewing the impact of renewing or extending patent protection
- harmonizing regulations with those of trading partners in key areas of agriculture
- setting priorities for science and innovation and ensuring stakeholders are aware of funding available from all sources related to those priorities
- encouraging use of second- and third-generation biofuel in conventional fuel and supporting research into same
- facilitating researchers’ access to research facilities, earmarking data-sharing tools and reinstating agriculture as priority research area for NSERC and NRC.
- enhancing access to venture capital for small and medium sized ag businesses
- working with Codex Alimentarius to better harmonize maximum pesticide residue limits
- improving market information available to stakeholders.
