Quick Facts
- Farmers have kept their emissions steady for 20 years while almost doubling production, resulting in a decrease of GHG emission intensity by half.
- With the proper support and investment, Canadian agriculture can become a carbon sink through new technologies and techniques.
- As stewards of the land, farmers face the brunt of climate change and are heavily invested in the fight against climate change and mitigating its impacts.
Issue Overview – Sustainable Agriculture Strategy
The Sustainable Agriculture Strategy (SAS) will help set a shared long-term direction for collective action to improve environmental performance in the sector, support farmers livelihoods and strengthen the business vitality of the Canadian agricultural industry.
Working Towards Solutions – Sustainable Agriculture Strategy
CFA co-chairs the SAS Advisory Committee to ensure that producers’ voices are at the table during development of this Strategy. CFA has been involved from the outset in co-chairing the SAS advisory committee to ensure it is pragmatic, effective and works for farmers.
CFA Recommendations – Sustainable Agriculture Strategy
- Ensure that the strategy is inclusive, data-driven, grounded in science and ambitiously funded to meet its ambitious goals.
- The Strategy should drive strategic investments into sustainability that support market opportunities and long-term competitiveness.
- The Strategy must have a triple-bottom-line approach to sustainability, balancing environmental, economic and social sustainability.
- Recognize and leverage progress to date to seize comparative advantage.
- Balance long-term climate mitigation with immediate adaptation and farm profitability
Issue Overview – Greenhouse Gas Pollution Offset Program
In 2021, Canadian farmers were finally beginning to be recognized and rewarded for their environmental efforts through the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Offset Program. Incentivizing and rewarding practices that reduce emissions and sequester carbon will propel the agriculture industry to adopt technologies and techniques which benefit the environment and aid in the fight against climate change.
Working Towards Solutions – Greenhouse Gas Pollution Offset Program
Priority activities for protocol development include livestock manure management, increasing soil carbon, forestation of previously agricultural land, and aerobic composting.
CFA is working to ensure that the dollar value for credits is high enough to reward existing efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses and incentivize investment in innovations that reduce emissions ahead of the programs expected 2021 implementation.
In December 2020, the Federal Government pledged to invest $631 million over 10 years to boost carbon sequestration in agricultural lands, wetlands and grasslands.
CFA will advocate for this funding to be made available to help farmers adopt offset protocols and generate new income from credits.
CFA Recommendations – Greenhouse Gas Pollution Offset Program
- Government must provide support to ensure that credit programs under the Clean Fuel Standards and Greenhouse Gas Pollution Offset Program have low cost of participation. Support includes funding programs to help farms make the investments needed to participate in these programs the moment they start.
- Funding is also needed to incentivize the provision of additional ecological goods and services such as erosion control and flood management.
- Government must invest in agricultural innovation to fully capitalize on the sector’s carbon offsetting potential
- Incentives should be created to ensure that carbon sequestration opportunities are available all farmers across Canada
- The co-benefits that agriculture provides must be carefully considered when designing climate policy
- Canadian agricultural producers should be recognized for their early investments and provision of climate related ecological goods and services
Issue Overview – Clean Fuel Regulations
The recently implemented Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) will allow Canadian farmers to generate credits through two actions:
- Undertaking projects that reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of fossil fuels (e.g., carbon capture and storage)
- Supplying customers with low carbon intensity fuels (biofuels)
This program provides an important opportunity to incentivize farmers to partake in activities that will reduce the carbon intensity of fuels.
Working Towards Solutions – Clean Fuel Regulations
Government must work to ensure that any increase in direct and indirect fuel price resulting from the Clean Fuel Regulations does not have a disproportionate impact on rural Canadians.
This can be done by ensuring that rural Canada has access to low carbon intensity fuels and that sectors such as transportation have support to reduce their carbon intensity to prevent costs form transferring down to farmers.
Farmers will be eligible to generate credits under two of the three CFR credit categories. CFA will work to ensure that the dollar value for credits is high enough to reward farmers for their emission reduction efforts.
CFA has worked with stakeholders to address concerns about how CFR will verify its Land Use and Biodiversity criteria, which awards credits to facilities who purchase from farms that meet these criteria.
In December 2020, Government pledged a $287 million two-year investment to continue the $5000 rebate incentive for zero-emission vehicles.
These incentives could potentially be used by farms to invest in the electrification needed to generate CFR credits.
CFA recommendations – Clean Fuel Regulations
- Government must provide support to ensure that credit programs under the Clean Fuel Regulations and Greenhouse Gas Pollution Offset Program have low cost of participation. Support includes funding programs to help farms make the investments needed to participate in these programs the moment they start.
- Funding is also needed to incentivize the provision of additional ecological goods and services such as erosion control and flood management.
CFA Recommendations – General
- That the government provide support to ensure that the upcoming Canada Water Agency has a designated agriculture unit to coordinate with the necessary departments and agencies on matters of runoff prevention and gathering water data for pest control product decisions.
- Governments must take action to ensure that carbon pricing policy is truly revenue neutral for agricultural producers
- Greater recognition for the role of clean technology that has and will reduce emissions further
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