Hot on the heels of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute’s conference on sustainability and agri-food, occasional Ag Policy Connection host, Shaun Haney, sat down with Tyler McCann, managing director of CAPI, Darlene McBain of FCC, and Sara Kate Smith of Clear Strategy, to unpack two days of policy panels, discussion, and insight. In this episode… Read More

A competitive advantage in the business world refers to factors that allow a company to produce goods or services for more value than their rivals. It’s when a business is better at making, selling, and ultimately, profiting from a product than their competitors. Canada’s agriculture and food sector, as a whole, has a strong story… Read More

Developing good ag policy that improves the long-term sustainability of Canadian agriculture — economic, environmental, and social — is a messy process that requires a mix of many things, including engaged stakeholders, good data to inform decisions, and enough people willing to take action and lead with long-term vision. This was clear as we discussed… Read More

Farmers and ranchers face many pressures to farm and raise animals in certain ways to meet sustainability-related goals of others, including food companies, lenders, and government. Clauses in crop contracts, carbon credits, government payments for rotational grazing or using nitrogen loss inhibitors, the federal fertilizer emissions reduction target, clean fuel standards, codes of practice, and… Read More

Methane emissions from cattle have received plenty of mainstream attention over the past decade, with calls to eat less beef often not accounting for the carbon sequestration and biodiversity benefits of producing highly-nutritious food on grasslands. The panel in this episode of the Ag Policy Connection ruminates on how environmental policies can help or hinder… Read More

The term “agricultural extension” generally refers to the process of applying new research and knowledge to help farmers improve farming methods and techniques. While this concept has existed for thousands of years, the word “extension” itself dates back to the 1860s in England when universities made an attempt to extend practical information through lectures outside… Read More

Governments in many countries are enacting policies aimed at mitigating climate change — massive subsidies, carbon levies, and strict regulations — that also have consequences on trade flows. Billions of dollars of incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S., the Canadian government’s carbon taxes, and the EU’s biofuel feedstock requirements and carbon border… Read More

There are many priorities that influence how land is used — the need for housing and economic development often drives the conversion of farmland and natural habitat into urban or suburban landscapes, but food security, productivity, biodiversity, crop or livestock prices, renewable energy policy, and of course, NIMBYism are among the many factors that can… Read More

When it comes to agriculture and the environment, some people see agriculture as a solution, while others view it as a problem. And in politics, people with different perspectives and levels of awareness about farming often sit in the same caucus or cabinet, influencing where a party stands on environmental policies that affect agriculture. Canada’s… Read More