Report will address food security, environment, conservation and the link between air, water, soil and carbon markets
SASKATOON — Senator Rob Black said he is looking forward to the completed study of Canadian soils.
The Ontario senator and chair of the Senate’s agriculture committee advocated for the report. The last study was led by former Saskatchewan senator Herb Sparrow and completed in 1984.
“To this day it is the most requested study ever in 157 years of Senate reports,” said Black during the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference.
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But he said some of the topics the committee is hearing about now weren’t on the radar 40 years ago, including climate change.
The Sparrow study was focused on farmers; Black said the new study will speak to all Canadians.
“Improving soil health isn’t a one-size-fits-all endeavour across Canada’s varied landscape,” he said. “It’s clear that healthy soil is important and has an important role to play in our economy, in our environment and society.”
The committee heard from 34 witnesses over nine meetings last fall.
Black said the long-term study will address food security, environment, conservation, the link between air, water, soil and carbon markets, and agriculture. He expects recommendations for governments at every level.
The agriculture committee also expects to see Bill C-234 come to the Senate within a few weeks. That is the private member’s bill that would exempt natural gas and propane used for agriculture from the federal carbon price.
“I look forward to supporting it,” said Black. “It is absolutely critical that farmers are supported properly with respect to carbon taxes.”
Black, from Fergus, Ont., describes himself as an agvocate, saying he worked in agriculture most of his life and it’s what he knows best. Other priority issues include agricultural labour challenges and the need for a national labour strategy that includes support for temporary foreign workers.
“We simply don’t have enough people interested in working in agriculture,” he said.
He applied to be an independent senator four years ago and said moving away from having only appointed senators has resulted in more pushback to legislation and more questions.
“In some cases, we are helping to change legislation that might otherwise have moved through the system rather quickly,” Black said.
