“We have the environment in Manitoba to continue to attract these large producers with our green footprint.” – Derek Johnson, Manitoba Agriculture Minister.

Details of Sustainable CAP programs slow to emerge

Producer groups reserve judgment until more information is available

Details of the new five-year agricultural funding agreement Manitoba signed with the federal government are beginning to emerge. The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (SCAP) was announced by Manitoba Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson and federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on April 6. The broad strokes have been known since last summer, when provincial,

Corn seedlings in southern Ontario in 2021. (Farmtario photo by John Greig)

Net-zero farming requires wide social buy-in

A systemic re-think of farming is needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050, but impetus and support must come from without, not just within

A “durable” net zero farming system may be unattainable without a broad re-think of the sector, and that will require broad social buy-in, says an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher. “This is a much bigger question than simply developing practices and encouraging adoption,” says Henry Janzen. “This involves the rest of us.” Janzen, a soil


heather stefanson

Province pitches in on ACC ag hub

Up to $10 million has been slated for Assiniboine’s Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

[UPDATED: Jan. 27, 2022] Assiniboine Community College (ACC) has its first major funding commitment from the provincial government for the promised Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture. Premier Heather Stefanson on Jan. 17 announced the province would provide up to $10 million for the project, which ACC has said will become the new hub for

Time for a holistic approach to sustainability?

The term needs to include the human element as well as the environmental and economic

Building a sustainable agriculture strategy is an opportunity to include mental health in the conversation, says the executive director of the Do More Agriculture Foundation. “Mental health affects everything… or it can be affected by so many things,” said Megz Reynolds. The foundation is a charity that focuses on mental health in the agriculture industry.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks to media in Winnipeg on Feb. 13, 2020. (Dave Bedard photo)

Leaders ‘encouraged’ by collaborative approach to sustainability strategy

Most interests are represented around the table, but one group fears the strategy will saddle farmers with costs, rules

Ag leaders say they’re pleased to see the federal government strike a collaborative tone as it begins consultations over its Sustainable Agriculture Strategy, but not all are so optimistic. Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has signaled she’s not approaching the process with “preconceived notions,” said Stuart Oke, chair of the National Farmers Union’s climate committee.


grains of the world

Editorial: Global food system productive but not sustainable

One of the world’s leading advocates for global food security had a sobering message for the movers and shakers of Canada’s agricultural sector who attended the Nov. 30 GrowCanada conference. “The reality is, the food system is productive, but it’s not sustainable, folks,” Ertharin Cousin, told her audience of 500 industry and farm organization executives.

David McInnes presents an update on a national sustainability index pilot in Brandon 
Nov. 14.

The numbers game on sustainability

Work is ongoing on a national agri-food sustainability index

Canada’s first agri-food sustainability index is halfway through its test drive. David McInnes, co-ordinator of the National Index on Agri-Food Performance, says the project’s pilot launched in June and is expected to run until April 2023. “We want to know what the data says. We want to know, from the data that we can get ahold of, how

A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers at Rio Pardo in Brazil's Rondonia state on Sept. 15, 2019.

Compensation key to tackling Brazilian deforestation

Dreyfus Brazil CEO says tackling deforestation involves compensating farmers

Brazil’s chief executive of commodities trader Louis Dreyfus says that if society wants to seriously tackle deforestation, mechanisms are needed to compensate farmers for conserving trees. Murilo Parada told an audience at the World-Agritech South America Summit in Sao Paulo that the development of a carbon market would be key to protect the environment and


brazil pineapple

Comment: The world’s inefficient food web

The world’s affluent must start eating local food to tackle the climate crisis, new research shows

The desire by people in richer countries for a diverse range of out-of-season produce imported from overseas is driving up global greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found. It reveals how transporting food across and between countries generates almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector – and affluent countries make a disproportionately

photo: canada beef

FCC launches sustainable beef incentive

Producers with a loan from FCC and certification from the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef can apply for an extra payday

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) wants to pay its beef sector clients for joining up with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB). On May 24, the company announced its FCC Sustainability Incentive Program. The program promises a yearly payment to producers who are certified through the CRSB, up to maximum of $2,000. Producers can reapply for the payment