“There are two areas where we’re falling down,” Saskatchewan deputy agriculture minister Bill Greuel said during an agriculture research panel discussion held Tuesday in Saskatoon as part of Crop Production Week 2025.

“One is front-end basic research and science, and the other is downstream commercialization and collaboration between governments and industry to bring those inventions to market.”

Greuel says the Saskatchewan government invests $37 million a year in ag research, a number that has increased over the last two decades, but he would like to see increasing investments from the federal government as well.

“If you look at everything that’s happening globally, from a trade perspective, a climate change perspective, a growth and population perspective, we’ve got all of this land here in Canada that we better be utilizing as an asset.”

However, increasing funding won’t address all the challenges facing the research community, said Angela Bedard-Haughn, dean of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan.

“It’s not just a matter of money,” she said, emphasizing the need to support all stages of research and development, including innovation through to commercialization.

“There’s almost a bit of a culture shift that needs to accompany that.”

Saskatchewan is uniquely well positioned to innovate when it comes to ag research, said Steve Webb, executive director of the Global Institute for Food Security at the U of S.

“We have all the industry players here, we have a growing investment piece, and we have connectivity with the farmers, the grower groups,” he said.

“It’s one of a kind in the world.”

Because of this, he believes we should be seeing more market-impact innovation coming from the province.

“We have to be thinking about return on investment, the opportunity for us to get more bang for the buck from a Canadian perspective.”

The productivity problem is complex, panelists agreed, caused and affected by issues such as a lack of funding and access to capital for ag research, lacking infrastructure, public trust issues and Canada’s regulatory environment.

But despite the scope of these challenges, Greuel says that addressing them should be a top priority within the agriculture sector right now.

“The world is getting more competitive. The trade environment is getting more competitive. If our farmers can’t be more competitive on a global scale, we’re going to be in trouble.”

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The research hopes to answer questions such as ‘What are the social barriers to sustainable farming and food?’ and ‘How can the burden and benefits of that transition be shared equitably?’

The federal government pledged the cash March 19 to launch the Common Ground Canada Network. The initiative will be led by Dalhousie University’s Karen Foster, Canada research chair in sustainable rural futures for Atlantic Canada.

“Producers are already taking action to make their operations more sustainable … This knowledge sharing network will help amplify the work already underway and increase adoption of these best practices,” an Agriculture Agri-Food Canada news release read.

The hard science of sustainable agriculture, things like improved agronomic practices, are already the purview of other research organizations and government funding streams. The network, in contrast, has a goal to tackle the topic from the angle of sociology, social anthropology, political sciences, economics, the humanities and other lenses.

Foster, who is a social scientist, gathered a group of other researchers and applied for the funding to start the network

“I think it arises from this recognition that in many cases we know the technology is there … but there are some social barriers in the way to adoption,” Foster said.

There are also social processes through which people are assured “that if we adopt a certain policy in the name of sustainability, it’s actually going to work.”

The network is also concerned with the “just transition” towards sustainable agriculture—how both the burden and benefits of change could be equitably shared.

This could include topics like farmland ownership—as is the case in work done by network members Annette Desmarais, Andre Magnan and others, on land ownership in Saskatchewan. That research indicated that investor-owned farmland had increased 16-fold between 2002 and 2014.

In a March 2023 opinion piece, published in the Manitoba Co-operator, Magnan and Desmarais said that by 2018, investors owned nearly one million acres of Saskatchewan farmland.

“Given that, on average, investors pay more for land compared to other buyers, these deep-pocketed buyers have undoubtedly contributed to the rapid increase of farmland prices,” they said.

Network members have also studied what areas of food and agriculture venture capitalists are most likely to invest in; the growing reliance of even small-scale farms in Nova Scotia on temporary foreign workers and the potential social and environmental effects of local food movements and their attempts to compete with big economic players.

The five-year project’s overall goal is to increase access to and use of the social sciences in the pursuit of sustainable agriculture in Canada.

The network says they will gather researchers and agriculture and food system representatives, such as governments, community organizations and Indigenous groups, to hash out shared goals and form connections between social science researchers and other fields.

Their plan also includes the development of holistic sustainability goals and the direction of resources to where they’re most needed within the network.

Foster said the network already has dozens of academic and community partners across Canada. According to the AAFC news release, these include the Arrell Food Institute, Food Secure Canada, the National Farmers Union, Humane Society International, Farm to Cafeteria Canada and others.

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A relatively obscure crop, grown largely as a machine lubricant, was transformed into one of the primary economic engines of the region’s agriculture sector. 

Canola is estimated to add about $30 billion annually to Canada’s economy, a figure that’s sure to grow as more domestic processing capacity comes online along with new uses like biodiesel. 

Key to this remarkable story is the work of two plant breeders at publicly funded universities: Keith Downey, a scientist from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Station on the University of Saskatchewan campus and the late Baldur Stefansson of the University of Manitoba. 

They’re both often referred to individually as ‘the father of canola’, but the truth is that working jointly, both contributed to the plant breeding effort that transformed a lubricant into an edible oil. 

Their challenge was to create a crop that produced an oil low in potentially harmful erucic acid and glucosinolates. These compounds restricted its use as a food oil and the resulting meal as animal feed. 

Erucic acid was shown in laboratory studies to damage the hearts of test animals. It also imparted a bitter taste to the oil that made it unpalatable to some. 

The glucosinolates made the meal equally unpalatable and are an “anti-nutritional,” according to available research. They block the uptake of certain nutrients and at high levels can interfere with internal organs such as the liver. 

It was clear that changes were needed, and they happened quickly once the problem was first tackled in the early 1960s. By 1974, the project had already borne fruit with the release of the Tower canola variety from the University of Manitoba, which kicked off the industry we know today. 

Canadian canola plantings reached just under 6.5 million acres by 1986, 13.2 million acres by 1995, and broke 20 million acres for the first time in 2012. It’s high-water mark, to date, is just over 23 million acres in 2017, according to figures from the Canola Council of Canada. 

It’s unlikely that anyone with a cursory understanding of basic economics would seriously deride the investment of a few bucks into research for the canola sector today, but in the early years, it wasn’t a sure bet. 

One early canola pioneer — though I hasten to add this is my only source for this tale — once told me a story of an opposition politician who held up a $30,000 study funded by the federal government into “variations in the oil profile of rapeseed” during a Parliamentary committee meeting as a prime example of ludicrous government spending. 

No doubt the obscure crop with a funny name was an easy target. But if there’s truth to this rural legend, I’ll only note that a $30 billion industry that cost $30,000 to get up and running would equal an annual ROI of something in the neighbourhood of 99.99999 per cent annually. 

For this reason, the recent investment by the federal government of a further $9 million to boost the already prosperous canola sector via a research cluster is likely a good move. 

It’s never a good idea to rest on one’s laurels, and exciting new markets like biodiesel seem primed to grow quickly, even as new challenges like clubroot or climate change abound. 

However, there’s another old adage that the agriculture sector and national policymakers should keep in mind: the sector can’t afford to put all its eggs in one basket. 

Cereals, for example, remain an important part of rotations, but their productivity growth is lagging and investments aren’t being made by the private sector to develop new genetics. 

While there’s a similar wheat cluster set to run from 2023 to 2028, this crop could arguably benefit from a bigger boost. 

The pulse sector is another one that would benefit from a research boost. It’s also been a historical beneficiary of the research cluster policy and seems ready to kick off a new effort over a similar timeline. 

A benefit of the cluster approach to research is the way it integrates both government and industry efforts — especially the research priorities of farmers and their sectoral groups. 

But the real danger lurks in the unknown. If the cluster approach existed in the 1960s, it’s not entirely clear whether then-obscure canola would have made the cut. 

Is there another crop like canola out there that holds rich potential but is being ignored because it is a small-acre crop with some issues that must be overcome?

*Update: the article previously indicated that Keith Downey was a plant breeder at the University of Saskatchewan.

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Today, there’s a good chance that same steer would be 50 pounds away from starting the finishing process.

Craig Lehr remembers. And on the 25th anniversary of the largest not-for-profit, industry-led funding agency in Canadian beef and forage, he credits research specifically made possible by the Beef Cattle Research Council.

“Because change happens gradually, we as producers sometimes forget the role that research has played in the significant advances of our industry,” said Lehr in his role as BCRC chair in the organization’s 2022-23 year in review report.

Why it matters: The Beef Cattle Research Council has been a key source of production knowledge and data that has helped develop the sector.

The BCRC has evolved with the needs of beef producers who help fund it.

It started as a marketing-focused organization that engaged in one or two research projects per year. Today, the council anchors a research hub with 100 projects at any given time, said BCRC executive director Andrea Brocklebank.

“Governments were moving away from research to some extent and, without industry support, research wasn’t getting funded. That was the real initiation of BCRC,” she said.

Since that time, it has helped supercharge beef and forage research and leveraged Canadian beef cattle check-off dollars into big research funding, said Brocklebank. The BCRC receives 67 cents of every $2.50 collected from producers by the provincial beef associations.

Today, for every dollar it receives through the check-off, BCRC commands $2 to $3 in direct funding from other institutions.

Checking up on check-off dollars

Value for producers’ money is never far from Brocklebank’s mind.

“I’m very cognizant about producers’ hard-earned money. We always want to encourage producers to sign up for our newsletters so they can see what we’re doing,” she said.

“Obviously, it might have direct applicability to their operations, but it’s also just a matter of understanding the extraordinarily important value of this producer investment.”

The council has funded nearly $33 million in research and technology transfer over the past five years. Nearly a third, or about $10 million, was in the 2022-23 year alone. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada pitched in nearly $2 million, the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off added $4 million, and another $4.7 million came from other industry and government funding.

BCRC had a couple of wins that stuck out this year, said Brocklebank. A big one was on the animal health and welfare side of its mandate.

A priority research project conducted by Trevor Alexander and his team from AAFC Lethbridge focused on the possible link between calves and bovine respiratory disease when at rest stops during long-haul travel.

The researchers found that calves given an eight-hour rest had higher numbers of BRD-causing bacteria in their respiratory tracts than calves not rested during transport.

“We want to ensure that we maintain healthy animals and, if stress and commingling actually increases risk, that’s a question industry is really focused on right now,” said Brocklebank.

Another study examined the impacts of removing implants and feed additives from feedlot cattle diets.

Kim Ominski of the University of Manitoba and Tim McAllister of AAFC Lethbridge compared results from three feedlot diets: a conventional diet; implanted and non-implanted steers and heifers fed no feed additives; and other diets containing alternatives such as spices and essential oils.

It turns out the conventional diet had the lowest environmental impact. The study also showed that removing growth promotants increased land and water use as well as greenhouse and ammonia emissions.

“There are some within the public that think we should consider removing growth promotants and so we compared the data. And what was really interesting is you’d require a lot more land in production of feed, so your environmental footprint would grow and, likewise, your economic impact,” said Brocklebank.

Arm’s reach

Neither of those projects was done by BCRC itself. Rather, the council works with research institutions across the country (40 so far), including major universities and AAFC research centres. This gives BCRC a wider range of data to work with and pass on to stakeholders.

“What we really focus on is working across provinces,” said Brocklebank. “With some of our forage work, we have researchers spanning across four or five provinces working together. This really excites us because we know they’re working in their own eco-regions and sharing results, but also finding how things might work in other areas as well.”

The peer-review process among academic researchers prevents any industry meddling. Almost all BCRC projects are peer-reviewed, said Brocklebank.

“We go through that scientific process to ensure impartiality so that it’s not perceived as being influenced by industry, although we provide funding,” she said.

“That’s really important for us, and it’s in part why we fund research externally. All of the research is done outside of our organization. We want to ensure we’re funding the right people but it also has to be impartial.”

Areas of interest

The fight against antimicrobial resistance is one of the council’s ongoing research activities.

“We’ve been very aggressive as an industry to develop a strategy around antimicrobial resistance in calves,” said Brocklebank. “A lot of that also has been looking at alternatives to antimicrobials. Are there alternative treatment strategies or opportunities to use things like probiotics or other products to basically reduce the reliance on antimicrobials?”

At a macro level, the beef industry’s goals – such as better feed efficiency – align more often than not with those of the federal government’s, said Brocklebank. Although government mandates lean in the environmental direction, producers’ profit motives frequently cross over through methodology.

“If we can improve pounds-per-day gains and animal health, that increases the number of animals that make it to processing. Ultimately, through that we’re reducing our environmental footprint because that’s measured based on how much less land, water and feed we’re using.

“That’s where I find our goals are very intertwined because a lot of these things are contributing to other outcomes.”

Forage and grassland productivity is another frequent focus for BCRC and its research partners, and such efforts have to account for the diversity of such a large country and its growing conditions.

For a simple example, some areas in the west may need new forage varieties that are drought-resistant, while in the east, flooding may be a bigger concern.

But increased productivity can’t come from varieties alone, said Brocklebank. Management practices also play a key role. That means communicating more management practices to producers across the country. Even in that context, there’s a lot of variability.

“A lot of it’s looking at rotational grazing strategies but then again, what applies in northern versus southern Alberta can be very different, likewise, east to west across Canada.

“So we have forage programs focused on each area of the country specifically and, while results are shared across the country, there is definitely some speciality or specificity.”

As for the future of BCRC, Brocklebank says it will continue to be an intermediary between farmers and government to help farmers.

“We’re being able to trigger governments’ investment needs, but we’ve also launched into extension and supporting Verified Beef Production costs. For me, those programs reach into ensuring research gets into practice.

“It’s fine to fund research, but if it’s not going anywhere, I guess what’s the point? So we really feel like that connection of value.”

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The 330-acre Ontario site is the host of various demonstration research projects and Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. It was established as the permanent home for the show in 2020.

“The objective is to provide farmers and agricultural professionals with tangible, applicable knowledge for their own operations. This research covers a wide range of agricultural fields, including crop cultivation, livestock management, soil health and sustainable farming practices,” the site’s website states.

Discovery Farm Woodstock and Olds College of Agriculture and Technology announced the addition Aug. 2 in a joint release. It brings the network’s membership up to eight locations across four provinces.

Other members include the farm’s sister site, Discovery Farm Langham near Saskatoon, the University of Saskatchewan’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (also near Saskatoon), Lakeland College at Vermilion, Alta., and Alberta’s Lethbridge College.

The network expanded into Manitoba earlier this year, with the addition of the Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives near Brandon and the Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative near Winnipeg.

The idea, according to the Aug. 2 release, is to create “a network of Smart Farms supporting Canada’s agriculture sector to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and resilience in response to emerging opportunities and challenges in the industry.

“The network fosters collaboration among researchers, producers, industry partners, and other stakeholders nationwide to drive innovative projects that address critical issues in ag tech development and adoption.”

Sites test and validate digital ag innovations with an eye to how breakthroughs could be applied to farm practices or research.

The network’s multiple sites and diverse geographic regions “multiplies the learnings and increases the value of data generated to connect farmers with industry and research partners to find practical solutions to ag challenges,” the joint statement read.

Olds College launched its own Smart Farm in 2018 on 110 acres. The network was launched in 2021.

Joy Agnew, vice-president of research for Olds College, noted the addition expands the network’s reach past the Prairies for the first time.

“Discovery Farm Woodstock brings production practices and soil types more common in Eastern Canada into network research activities, as well as specific expertise in soybeans and corn,” she said. “The network’s continued expansion across different agricultural zones and land bases brings depth to the network’s projects and technology evaluations, which benefit farmers and developers.”

The college also noted the farm’s links to the University of Guelph.

Lynda Tityk, Glacier FarmMedia corporate director of Discovery Farm and events, said they were “thrilled” with the site’s membership and the new range it will bring to the network.

“Working together with members across Canada in the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network allows us to transfer knowledge on initiatives that provide information that matters to Ontario farmers and connect the public to Ontario’s robust and evolving agri-food sector,” she said.

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They study team is “looking for farmers, ranchers, or anyone who works or lives on a farm” to participate, researchers said in a recent notice.

Their study is in the form of a 10- to 15-minute online survey.

Researchers involved in the study say global-level research shows farmers experience high levels of, or elevated risk for, stress, anxiety, depression and/or psychological distress.

Similarly, a national-level survey of 1,132 Canadian farmers found higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression but “lower levels of resilience” compared to the general population.

The sample group for that national survey, however, included just 98 Alberta farmers, or 8.7 per cent of the total sample, while Alberta farmers make up 21.4 per cent of Canada’s farmer population, the researchers said.

The survey would examine what aspects of running a farm are found to be most stressful, how farming stress impacts mental well-being, how farmers cope with stress and whether they experience burnout.

The study is led by Dr. Rebecca Purc-Stephenson, an applied social psychologist and professor at the university’s Augustana campus at Camrose.

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The Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy, a think tank operating out of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, says its three recently released reports aim at “providing a neutral and evidence-based analysis of each party and their respective election priorities for the future of the ag sector.”

The reports, it said, “are intended to be a tool for agricultural organizations and stakeholders to use as a jumping-off point for discussions in the lead-up to the Alberta elections.”

The second of the three, titled Primary Producers’ Voices on Policy in Alberta, details results from a survey of 297 Alberta farmers and their concerns on the topics of climate, spending, markets/commodities/trade and technology/research.

The demographics of the farmer respondents were broken down into categories of 18-39, 40-60 and 60 and older.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents in the 18-39 group agreed their farm has been positively affected by federal climate change regulations. The two older groups did not view the situation the same way, however, with only 56 and 23 per cent agreeing respectively.

All demographics strongly agreed investment in research for emissions reductions should be a government priority.

The responses related to spending were not as decisive. On the question of whether the Alberta government provides strong incentives for new farmers to begin their careers, 51 and 52 per cent of the 18-39 and 40-60 groups voted they agreed, while only 21 per cent of those over 60 did.

Agreement that the government should prioritize subsidizing agriculture input costs was similarly tepid, ranging from 40 to 60 per cent.

The category of markets and commodities saw more noticeable agreement, however. All demographics generally agreed upon priorities related to the topic, such as opening up in new international trade markets, ensuring fair returns for commodity producers, incentivizing Albertan commodities and investing in new processing facilities.

Likewise, in the category of technology and research, every group agreed Canadian agriculture research has benefited their farms and investment in innovation technology in Alberta should be a high priority.

There was also consensus that the government should have significant involvement in the agriculture sector.

The first report, The Role of Political Parties in Shaping Agriculture Policy, outlines the track records of Alberta’s previous United Conservative Party (UCP) and New Democratic Party (NDP) governments.

According to the report, “the NDP government funded investments in research, food safety and animal health,” whereas “the UCP government has taken a direct-investment approach with Albertan producers and decreased ministry expenses for increased capital spending.”

The report’s conclusion states the NDP has emphasized increased protection for those working on the agriculture sector, and the UCP has focused more on giving control over to agricultural workers to make decisions about their individual daily operations.

It also concludes the NDP has focused more on research and funding the ministry of agriculture, whereas the UCP has prioritized direct investments.

It also notes many similarities between the two parties, however, such as how they have both invested in agribusiness.

The third report, An Overview of Party Visions, was just released Thursday and summarizes what the parties have promised in their platforms.

Among the more significant pledges were the UCP commitment to expand the Feeder Assistance Loan Guarantee from $2 million to $3 million, and the NDP’s promises to “create an Alberta value-added incentive program to help companies access capital,” create a food incentive task force and “increase staff for services and agri-food and value-added approvals.”

More about the surveys, party history and election pledges can be found in the full reports.

— Jonah Grignon reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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Dr. Digvir Jayas, currently on sabbatical as professor and vice-president (research and international) at the University of Manitoba, will become president and vice-chancellor at the University of Lethbridge effective July 1 this year.

Dean Gallimore, who chairs Lethbridge’s board of governors and the board’s search committee, said in a recent release that throughout the search process, “it became readily apparent that Dr. Jayas is an outstanding relationship builder who has an innate ability to bring people together, whether it be as a professor, researcher or administrator.”

The fact that Jayas “also conducts a research program of vital importance to the southern Alberta region and has continually gravitated to leadership roles within a comprehensive research university as well as external national agencies made him the ideal person to be at the forefront of the next era of the University of Lethbridge.”

READ MORE: Farming, poetry and math carved path for agricultural researcher

Jayas was born and raised on a farm in India, studied ag engineering there and completed his grad degree and PhD at the Universities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan respectively. He began teaching at the U of M in 1985, becoming an internationally known authority and researcher on drying, handling and storing of grains and oilseeds, and digital image processing for grading and processing operations in agri-food.

Jayas has served as U of M’s vice-president of research for the past 13 years, the past decade of which corresponded with nearly 50 per cent growth in research funding there, the university noted in a separate release.

As a professor, U of L noted, Jayas has authored or co-authored over 1,000 technical articles in scientific journals, conference proceedings and books dealing with issues of storing, drying, handling and quality monitoring of grains and foods.

On top of multiple awards and honours for his research, Jayas is also an inductee in the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an officer of the Order of Canada.

In a recent separate article about his sabbatical, the U of M quoted Jayas as saying his plans included graduating his eight current grad students, writing a book and organizing the next International Conference on Controlled Atmospheres and Fumigation in Stored Products, held every four years in different locations worldwide and next set for Aug. 18-23, 2024 in Winnipeg.

As U of L president, Jayas replaces Dr. Mike Mahon, a professor specializing in physical education and disability studies, who had held the head office post since 2010.

Jayas is scheduled to take part in a community welcome event at U of L on Tuesday (Feb. 7); his official installation as president will take place at the school’s fall convocation in October.

In a U of L release, Jayas said he sees his background aligning with the school’s strategic directives. “Firstly, when I look at the University of Lethbridge, I see values that align with my values. This is a place that is committed to liberal education, committed to creating a respectful work environment for students, faculty and staff, and committed to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion,” he said.

“I also see a desire to continue to grow research and further impact society through this valuable work, enhancing opportunities for researchers and the undergraduate and graduate students they mentor.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) was launched one year ago and seeks to accelerate innovation in “climate smart” agriculture globally up to 2025, as the world races to contain global warming below 1.5 C.

At the COP27 climate change talks in Sharm el-Sheikh it announced commitments for $7 billion (C$9.29 billion) of investments from 42 governments, and $1 billion in innovation initiatives aimed at small-holder farmers in developing economies, new technologies, agro-ecological research and methane reduction (all figures US$).

Farming is on the frontline of extreme weather but is also a major contributor to global emissions that cause warming.

AIM will help farmers deal with challenges that have become more apparent this year, said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack: productivity losses linked to climate change, and higher input costs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

“I think there’s an opportunity here for us — for the United States in particular — but for large-scale agriculture, to help inform smallholders about the knowledge and information we’re getting about more efficient use, more precise use of fertilizer and other inputs which can lower costs for farmers and also without jeopardizing productivity,” Vilsack told Reuters in a call.

Agriculture could get to net zero “a bit faster than maybe some of the other industries that are commonly discussed when we talk about climate,” he said.

“I think there’s just tremendous carbon sequestration capacity, there’s tremendous opportunities to reduce methane, there’s tremendous opportunities to convert agricultural waste into a variety of products that would significantly reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of agricultural production.”

Vilsack said the UAE, which imports about 80 per cent of its food and will host the COP28 climate talks in 2023, wanted to help shore up production in food exporting countries as well as boosting self-reliance through innovation.

— Reporting for Reuters by Aidan Lewis.

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The Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) is the first time Canada has had a comprehensive plan, rather than just a collection of policies, setting out how it will meet its international commitment to cut carbon emissions 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Environmental think tanks called it a “watershed moment” for Canadian climate policy, but warned Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government needed to follow through.

“A plan is just a plan without action. Expedited implementation will be key to success, and Canada now needs to shift into high gear,” said Rick Smith, president of the Canadian Climate Institute.

Canada has missed every emissions reduction target it has ever set but Trudeau said fighting climate change was one of his government’s top priorities during last year’s election campaign, and a recent deal with the opposition New Democrats should ensure the passage of climate legislation for the next three years.

Key measures include a zero-emissions vehicle mandate that is more ambitious than anything proposed by Canada’s neighbour the United States, and a target for reducing emissions from the oil and gas sector alone 42 per cent below current levels by 2030.

For the ag sector, the ERP as released Tuesday calls for $470 million for the Agricultural Climate Solutions: On-Farm Climate Action Fund, to “top up funding for some current successful applicants, broaden support to additional key climate mitigation practices, extend the program past its current end date of 2023-24, and support adoption of practices” to cut fertilizer and methane emissions.

Another existing program, the Agricultural Clean Technology program, would see its funding tripled to $330 million, going toward “broadening and expanding” its scope.

The ERP also includes $150 million to fund a “resilient agricultural landscapes” program it said would back carbon sequestration, adaptation and “other environmental co-benefits.”

Another $100 million, meanwhile, is to fund “transformative science for a sustainable sector in an uncertain climate,” including “fundamental and applied” research, improved ag extension services to support new practices and technologies, and collecting to data to gauge the ag sector’s “environmental performance” over time.

‘Different expectations’

The ERP was introduced under the requirements of Canada’s Net-Zero Accountability Act, which the government adopted last summer in a bid to produce more binding climate policies.

The country is the world’s fourth largest oil producer and 10th largest carbon emitter. The oil and gas industry is its highest polluting industry, followed by transportation.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector have risen for the last two decades, meaning the 42 per cent cut from current levels will only amount to a 31 per cent cut from 2005 levels.

That lower target for the oil and gas sector means other parts of the economy will have to make deeper emissions cuts if Canada is to hit its overall 40-45 per cent reduction goal, said Simon Dyer, deputy executive director of the Pembina Institute.

“We believe the oil and gas sector has the ability to do more, and do its fair share,” Dyer said.

Trudeau said the emissions targets had to be realizable as well as ambitious and the electricity sector, for example, would be making much bigger cuts.

“Different sectors have different expectations… Canadians have had far too long of targets that have been set, but not achieved,” Trudeau told a news conference in Vancouver.

Tuesday’s plan also noted the government intends to release a separate plan this year to cut methane emissions “across the economy.” Methane, the government said, accounts for 13 per cent of Canada’s total 2019 greenhouse gas emissions, with over 90 per cent of methane emissions coming from the oil and gas, agriculture and waste management sectors combined.

Overall, the ERP sets an interim goal of cutting planet-warming carbon emissions 20 per cent below 2005 levels by 2026. While not an official target like the 2030 objective, the 2026 goal will be a major measure of whether Canada is on track.

The government is also introducing a mandate that 60 per cent of light-duty vehicles sold in 2030 must be zero-emissions, rising to 100 per cent by 2035.

Those targets put Canada “among the pack of leading jurisdictions” in terms of zero-emission vehicle mandates, said Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada.

In the U.S., the Biden administration so far has declined to set a firm deadline for phasing out sales of combustion vehicles. Instead, President Joe Biden has set a target for 50 per cent of new cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nia Williams and Ismail Shakil. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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