Glacier FarmMedia – The federal government has pledged more than $3.1 million to continue developing a made-in-Canada sustainability index for agricultural products.
“This funding will improve the National Index on Agri-Food Performance, helping the sector take advantage of market opportunities, and backing up our efforts with concrete data,” said Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay in a Feb. 27 news release.
The index is a domestic sustainability measurement system being developed through a coalition of government and industry groups, including agro-chemical companies like Nutrien and BASF, and provincial agriculture departments. It includes metrics spanning water stewardship, soil health and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as nutrition, safe food, financial viability and sustainability, work conditions and animal care.
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It’s been touted as a means for industry to get ahead of the sustainability debate by developing a system to measure its own performance rather than having metrics imposed that were not developed with industry at the table.
A pilot version of the index was published in May 2023.
The Canadian Agricultural Policy Institute, which houses the project, will use the funds to refine the index, find any missing information and create an upgraded version of the index, the federal news release said.
