Think tank proposes linking farm supports with environmental practices
The Conference Board of Canada is proposing tougher government rules to improve the environmental performance of the food system.
In a report published last week that is a buildup to its promised 2014 national food strategy, the Ottawa-based government and business-supported research institute recommended a stronger “Canadian agri-food environmental governance system” that would include environmental rules for the food sector and a connection between farmer access to income support programs and their environmental performance.
“There is an opportunity to better integrate producer support and environmental objectives through, for example, cross-compliance systems that make eligibility for some program payments dependent on achieving specified environmental performance standards or practices,” said the report.
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
For example, farmers could “have to show that they have plans in place to mitigate farm runoff before they are eligible for certain kinds of subsidies or support.”
The report, written for the conference board’s Centre for Food in Canada, argued that agriculture and food production are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, soil degradation and water pollution.
“In addition to being susceptible to changes in climate, Canadian agriculture also contributes a disproportionately large share of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions compared with its economic output,” said the report.
Report authors James Stuckey, Caitlin Charman and Jean-Charles Le Vallée argued that agriculture accounts for up to 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
And while farmers have improved their care for soil health in the past three decades, the report said there are increasingly other problems.
“Agriculture is a primary contributor to groundwater contamination across Canada, largely because of the application of manure and nutrients for fertilizer,” it said.
The problem is most acute on the Prairies.
“The number of contaminated wells climbs to 60 percent in regions with intensive livestock operations or high-input crops, though all regions with high livestock densities may be areas for concern.”
The report, while calling for tougher government rules, noted that Canadian agriculture is responsible for 85 percent of ammonia emissions to the atmosphere.
“Canada does not stack up well against international peers on measures of ammonia emissions,” it said.
“An Environment Canada comparison of ammonia emissions per unit of GDP (gross domestic product) revealed that in 2009 Canada ranked last among the eight countries selected for comparison.”
The report also said an industry survey found that improved environmental performance is not a high priority for the farm and food industry unless it can be proven to help the bottom line.
“Results from the survey suggest that improving environmental performance is not a high priority consideration for most food businesses.”
However, the conference board report said world markets increasingly want guarantees of environmental responsibility, even as a hungry world offers Canada more opportunity for exports.
It suggested a stronger government-business collaboration on “environmental risk governance” that would help the industry.
“It would offer the best mechanism to ensure that, as the world demands more food, Canada is able to rise to the opportunity in a way that does not put our environment at risk,” said the Addressing the Environmental Impacts of the Food System report.
