Now in its third year, the On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF) is a $704.1 million funding program that is part of the Government of Canada’s Agricultural Climate Solutions initiative, intended to help farmers tackle climate change. The Fund falls under the $4 billion Natural Climate Solutions Fund managed by Natural Resources Canada, Environment and Climate… Read More
Category: Climate Change
This week, the Auditor General published an evaluation of the federal government has implemented its climate plan for agriculture, and the results were not good. My initial reaction to this was not shock or surprise, as the targets seemed lofty, difficult to measure, disconnected from actual practices, and more designed to grab headlines than actually… Read More
Approval of a biotechnology reform bill in the European Parliament last month has been hailed as a major breakthrough toward allowing “new genomic techniques,” such as gene-editing, to be used in crop breeding in Europe. The bill still faces an uphill battle to become law across the European Union, but the vote was one example… Read More
Canada has what the world needs: abundant food and food ingredients. More importantly, Canada has what much of the world lacks — good arable land, clean water, and stability. Murad Al-Katib, president and CEO of AGT Food and Ingredients, based at Regina, is well versed in moving commodities and food products around the world. In… Read More
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has announced that Canada will become a founding member of the Efficient Fertilizer Consortium. The commitment also comes with $1.3 million in federal funding over four years. The Efficient Fertilizer Consortium (EFC) was created by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, a public-private partnership that funds research to advance enhanced… Read More
If a report is quietly published on a government website on the Friday before the New Year’s weekend and no one is told about it, is anyone supposed to read it or respond to it? Because that’s what happened with the federal government’s “What We Heard” report after holding consultations a year ago on its… Read More
Compared to 2014, a kilogram of beef in Canada is now produced with 15 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions. According to the National Beef Sustainability Assessment (NBSA) and Strategy report, the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) says this latest assessment reflects three years of scientific analysis to make the determination, comapring 2014 to… Read More
Seven founding members launched the Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food (CANZA) this week. The intended goal of the alliance is to help Canada feed a growing population while reducing emissions, becoming more sustainable, and creating new economic opportunities for Canada, the organization says. Supported by the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph, and… Read More
Ontario farmers interested in participating in the Living Lab initiative are invited to complete a survey in order to begin the process. The Living Lab — Ontario project has been set up to bring together farmers, scientists, sector organizations, and other experts to co-develop, test, and evaluate Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) that address climate change… Read More
On Monday, Canada completed the first step towards adopting and implementing sustainability financial disclosure standards for many industries, including agriculture. The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) says it achieved quorum with the appointment of four new members, putting the board in “decision-making mode” now that the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) has released its initial… Read More