The Trudeau government is creating a “Sustainable Agriculture Strategy” (SAS) to improve the agriculture industry’s “environmental performance and sustainability.” . Farm Tractor Fertilizer .It is beginning public consultations to get input from stakeholders..On Monday, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told the media about the SAS..“We must help Canadian farmers keep building their resilience to climate change,” said Bibeau. .“We need to sit down together and develop a roadmap that will keep us on track to meet our environment and climate goals.”.The SAS differs from the agriculture policy agreements that are signed every five years by the federal, provincial, and territories. .Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) published a discussion paper outlining why the government wants to establish the SAS. The paper includes five goals for the SAS..First, make the agriculture industry “resilient to short and long-term climate impacts” and continued adaptation because of climate change..Second, to improve “environmental performance” while “contributing” to the economic, social, and environmental benefit of Canadians..Third, make sure the agriculture industry takes part in Canada’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction and 2050 net-zero targets, while “remaining competitive.”.Fourth, a more integrated “value chain” across programming, policy, and partners..Fifth, improve data captured to measure, report, and track the “environmental performance” of the agriculture and agri-food industries.. Farm FieldsFarm fields .Bibeau did not speculate what targets or metrics they could use at the completion of the study..“We definitely want to have objectives at the end of this exercise and be able to measure the progress, but I don’t want to pre-judge what these objectives might be,” said Bibeau..Bibeau announced a 20-member advisory panel, which is co-chaired by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and the AAFC..CFA President Mary Robinson said “this committee will support dialogue between the key stakeholders.”.“It is our hope this is the beginning of a long-term forum and strategic approach that can help support producers on our transition to a truly sustainable agriculture sector that provides safe and nutritious food for Canada and the world and generations to come,” Robinson told the media..Bibeau said the government intends to use incentives for farmers to become more environmentally friendly and not force legislation or regulations on them..The initial consultation period will end on March 31 and a draft version of the strategy is to be published by the end of 2023..SAS Advisory Panel members:.Canada Organic GrowersEgg Farmers of CanadaCanadian Agri-Food Policy InstituteFarmers for Climate SolutionsCanadian Canola Growers AssociationFertilizer CanadaCanadian Cattle AssociationFruit & Vegetable Growers of CanadaCanadian Pork CouncilGrain Growers of CanadaCanadian Wildlife FederationNational Farmers UnionCanola Council of CanadaNature UnitedChicken Farmers of CanadaPulse CanadaDairy Farmers of CanadaUnion de producteurs agricolesDucks UnlimitedSoy Canada
