Commodity groups have joined forces to develop a crops sustainability certification pilot project in Alberta
BANFF, Alta. — Sustainability can sometimes be a hazy concept, yet farmers are often forced to comply even if they don’t always know what it is or how much it might cost.
Jason Lenz is one of those farmers.
He believes his central Alberta farm is sustainable when it comes to continuous improvement, socially responsible behaviour and profitability.
For him, it is about being a good neighbour and taking care of the land, air and water on his farm at Bentley.
“If modern day farms in Western Canada are not striving for continuous improvement, if they are not incorporating beneficial management practices and if we are not making an effort to protect the environment, they almost certainly are not going to be profitable,” he said.
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Agricultural sustainability was discussed at the Alberta Barley Commission’s annual meeting held recently in Banff. The organization has joined forces with the wheat, canola and pulse commissions to craft the Alberta crops sustainability certification pilot project.
“Our board of directors feels that this needs to be a priority and one that we should meet head on, so we can have some input in the shaping and moulding of any sustainability program that comes our way,” he said at the meeting.
Lenz grows all of these crops, so he wants a single standard that is practical and not a burden.
“In the next four years, we are all going to have to show what we are doing on farms is sustainable. This is not something that is going to go away,” he said.
Farmers growing any of these crops can join the project to assess their level of sustainability.
Control Union, a third party auditor and inspection service from the Netherlands, has been contracted to work with volunteer farmers. The Canadian office is in Vancouver and will provide two auditors this spring to visit participating farms and provide a report on their level of sustainability, said Erin Gowriluk of the barley commission.
The commissions that are involved in this project are already part of the Canadian Round Table for Sustainable Crops, where provincial and national groups can talk about environmental policy. The project is a part of that ongoing discussion.
“We are going to test the waters with this project, and we are going to see if other regions might be interested in trying something similar,” Gowriluk said.
Farmers will be assessed to see how well they comply in areas such as carbon emissions, sustainable agriculture and social responsibility.
They will undergo their assessments in March. The participating groups are looking for more producers to join the project.
Each will complete a pre-assessment of on-farm practices, which takes about an hour. The final assessment takes about half a day.
Specific questions are asked about the farm, but the results are confidential.
Each farmer will receive a report, and the four farm commissions will receive an aggregated report to show the highlights and the gaps.
Each farm will also undergo an assessment using Unilever’s sustainable agriculture code. Unilever developed it for continuous improvement, and it has been tested by agronomists, farmers, consultants and sustainability advisers.
Anheuser-Busch, Kellogg’s and General Mills are among the multinational companies that have supported the Unilever initiative.
“Unilever will not do business with new suppliers who do not meet the mandatory requirements for their responsible sourcing policy,” Gowriluk said.
“Existing suppliers will be required to meet these requirements, phasing them in between 2015 and 2017.”
The code includes waste handling, farm chemicals, fuel, energy management, soil care and water use, support of biodiversity dealing with social and human capital, supporting animal welfare and contributions to the local economy.
Canada already has the Environmental Farm Plan program, which could be used rather than the Unilever code.
Gowriluk said the commissions want to talk with government to see if the requirements align with international programs.
Companies such as Unilever have said they can accept alternate programs as long as the farm ultimately attains the expected results.
Most farmers feel confident they are doing things in a sustainable way but realize most of the public does not know that.
“How do we tell our story as farmers to consumers?” she said.
“We don’t really know what consumers are ultimately looking for and how does this translate to what is done on my farm.”
