Canadians who want to maintain a storybook image of agriculture should think about how much that will cost them, participants heard at a conference on environmental farm planning in Saskatoon.
“It’s fine to expect it but they should be prepared to pay for it,” said Ed Tyrchniewicz, a retired agricultural economist speaking at the meeting hosted by the Provincial Council of Agriculture Development and Diversification Boards for Saskatchewan.
He suggested a one percent levy on food, similar to the environmental tax used to recycle beverage containers.
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Tyrchniewicz said many people expect farmers to maintain an idyllic rural setting that includes wildlife, grasslands, forests and fish-stocked lakes. That is part of the common agricultural policy in Europe, he noted.
“It really is a subsidy to maintain the rural landscape.”
The conference explored industry’s plans for sustainable development, conservation groups’ efforts, environmental plans in other provinces, the consumer’s perspective and Ottawa’s new agricultural policy framework.
Tyrchniewicz said he suggested the farm tax to get Canadians thinking about who is responsible for the rural environment.
Ignorant of industry
Canadians today are less connected to and less familiar with agriculture and modern food production.
“If you don’t have understanding of it, you’re suspicious of it and don’t have empathy for it,” he said.
“Kids need to know where their food comes from,” he said, noting teachers also need science-based unbiased information.
He used the Prairie Swine Centre’s interpretive gallery as one example of future educational opportunities in agriculture.
He said farmers should be good stewards of the land to preserve it for future generations, but the operation must also provide them with an adequate standard of living.
He praised practices like conservation tillage, manure management, soil testing, shelterbelts and permanent cover crops, riparian management and niche markets for environmentally friendly products.
Sustaining the natural prairie and protecting areas of biological diversity are the goals of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Sue Michalsky detailed the work of her national non-profit group in acquiring conservation easements and making land purchases to set aside areas for wildlife.
She said it’s important to sell the notion of environmental plans in a positive light.
“People tune out rhetoric. People want to hear a positive story.”
She said there is much misinformation about the impact of agriculture on the environment, noting most of the native prairie was broken up during settlement from 1880 to 1930. She said cultivation destroys native grasslands. Cattle only imitate the actions of bison.
Michalsky said farmers must be able to measure what is being done for the environment by documenting how many farms are managing manure or how many acres have been set aside for wildlife.
The Canadian public and politicians also need to be shown that farmers are following environmental guidelines in the same way industry is expected to adhere to occupational health and safety standards for workers.
“It’s a tool to communicate to the public that we are following all the rules and doing everything that can be reasonably expected of us to look after the environment,” said Michalsky.
