“The world needs another green revolution,” said the report prepared jointly by the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Agriculture and food production are responsible for about 10 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, but that is poised to increase by 26 per cent by 2050.
The report outlines a list of potential solutions that it says could reduce those emissions in Canada by up to 40 per cent, including new technologies and alternative agricultural management processes. But farmers and food producers lack the incentive and infrastructure to adopt them, the report said.
“We will never achieve a green economy if we don’t have an economic system that reflects the environmental cost – or at least accounts for – the environmental costs of our production,” said Evan Fraser, director of Arrell Food Institute.
He said farmers are only rewarded for producing food, not for how they produce it.
One example highlighted in the report is regenerative agriculture, the set of farming practices aimed at improving soil health, which has increased in popularity in recent years. Further adoption of these practices in Canada could potentially prevent 35 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
But for farmers, this comes with significant upfront costs – and the risk of not seeing a return on the investment. According to the report, it takes farmers about four years to recoup the costs of their investment, and six years before they see profits.
Farmers face similar risks with adopting many of the new technologies highlighted in the report as well. Some of these technologies include anaerobic manure digesters, soil testing aimed at reducing fertilizer use and feed additives that could reduce livestock methane emissions.
“It’s all doable,” said Fraser. “We’re talking about technologies that are either available now, or rapidly becoming commercially available,” he said. “It’s not science fiction.”
But, the report says, governments need to help create the conditions to encourage these solutions.
“We need to invest in the infrastructure, systems and national verification standards,” said John Stackhouse, senior vice-president at RBC.
Lenore Newman, director of Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, said that currently, the government’s approach to funding is a huge barrier.
“The funding in Canada is a bit scattershot,” she said – split not only between the federal and provincial governments, but also through the many departments and bodies that intersect with food. “On a national level,” she said, “there is no dedicated agricultural funding stream for researchers.”
She pointed at the Netherlands as a model. There, academics, government and the private sector work together closely, using a targeted approach. Despite the relative size of the country, it’s the second-largest agriculture exporter in the world.
Canada, which is already a major global producer of grains, pulses and proteins, has similar potential, said Newman. “Canada needs to wake up and realize we’re a food superpower,” she said.
