The Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food (CANZA) has announced a $4 million effort, with backing from the federal government, Maple Leaf Foods, and Nutrien, to develop and scale tools to measure, report, and verify (MRV) soil carbon, potentially unlocking new sources of revenue for farmers.
The development of a simple MRV system “will allow farmers to actually have the ability to receive a cheque for the climate-smart practices they use to manage the farm,” says Kristjan Hebert, Saskatchewan-farmer and president of The Hebert Group, whose farm was part of CANZA’s initial pilot project in Saskatchewan.
The $4-million project announced Monday builds on the MRV framework developed through two pilot projects in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in 2023-2024, expanding to 15 thousand acres across four different locations in Saskatchewan. Their goal is three-fold: 1) to optimize the soil sampling process; 2) develop a handheld, in-field MRV tool; and 3) facilitate knowledge sharing of the MRV system.
“We are happy to continue to support this CANZA initiative,” says Hebert. “Our definition of sustainability has always been to improve the financials, the land, the community, and the industry every generation… As seen in the Global Institute for Food Security’s report, Canadian farms are leading the world in sustainable production and should be compensated for it.”
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is contributing up to $2 million in funding to CANZA’s parent organization, Generate Canada, through its Agricultural Clean Technology Program – Research and Innovation Stream. Maple Leaf Foods and Nutrien, two of CANZA’s founding partners, are matching this funding to bring the total to $4 million.
CANZA says it expects to develop “a regionally relevant, cost-effective, and scalable MRV system,” which could enable farmers to monetize environmental outcomes, either by selling credits to others who are looking to offset emissions or by increasing margins within existing value chains.
“We are very enthusiastic about this project as it exemplifies CANZA’s collaborative, value-driven, and transformative role in the agri-food sector,”” says Nick Betts, CANZA’s managing director. “By uniting diverse stakeholders, we can co-create, implement, and scale innovative solutions that enhance economic and environmental resilience — benefiting farmers, agri-food system participants, and Canadians nationwide.”
Nutrien’s vice-president of global sustainability, Tim Faveri, notes soil testing is important, but it’s a time-consuming process.
“Streamlining this process to where enough soil can be characterized in a library and used as a reflective measurement rather than requiring individual soil tests would be a major advancement in efficiency for the agriculture industry,” he says.
The development of advanced MRV tools would represent “a significant step towards a more sustainable and profitable future for Canadian agriculture,” notes Dr. Randy Huffman, chief food safety and sustainability officer at Maple Leaf.
Additional project partners include the University of Guelph, the University of Saskatchewan, SoilTeck, and TheoryMesh. Dr. Asim Biswas, professor at the University of Guelph’s School of Environmental Sciences and Founder of SoilTeck, will facilitate the soil sampling optimization process with researchers at the University of Saskatchewan. TheoryMesh will collaborate with Biswas on tool development, and lead the development of the MRV-supporting platform.
The $4 million project was announced at CANZA’s Seeding New Ground event in Ottawa on Feb. 10, ahead of Farm Credit Canada’s “Future of Food” event set to take place on Canada’s Agriculture Day on Feb. 11, 2025.
Related:
The Truth About CANZA with John Stackhouse
New alliance aims to move Canada’s agri-food system to net-zero
Ag Policy Connection — Should we make sustainability Canada’s number one competitive advantage?
