Canadians know we need resilience in our food system.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on our food system. Headlines have captured vulnerabilities and raised alarm bells among Canadians: outbreaks at beef-packing plants and bottlenecks in the meat supply chain; dairy farmers dumping milk; Canadian potatoes deteriorating in storehouses and contracts cut on the eve of a new season; ongoing farm labour shortages exacerbated by border closures; farm workers falling ill and dying.
The government’s response to date has been rapid and commendable, but has mostly focused on temporary deferral of debt repayment or increased access to credit.
Smart, forward-thinking and lasting COVID-19 recovery should prioritize climate resilience in agriculture.
“A better future starts on the farm: Recommendations for recovery from COVID-19 in Canadian agriculture” outlines five ways to support farmers recovering from the pandemic while helping them deal with the long-term effects of the climate crisis, too.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are projected to increase over the next decade, already up 22% over the last 28 years. And, farmers are on the front lines of increasing impacts from climate change.
The world is on track to warm by 3.2 degrees Celsius this century. This projection takes into account all current policies and all emission-reduction commitments, including those made in Paris where Canada committed to reducing emissions by 30% by 2030. A 3.2 degree rise will create major uncertainties for Canadian farmers. But the reality may be even worse: higher latitudes and continental interiors—areas such as the Canadian Prairies—are warming at twice the global average. The path we are on would have most of Canada’s food producing lands warm by 6.4 degrees Celsius this century—nearly one degree per decade.
This must be the subtext for Canada’s COVID-19 recovery efforts in agriculture.
The past several months of the pandemic have revealed some long-hidden problems, but much larger risks loom. The biggest impacts threaten to arrive quickly, unless we change course.
COVID-19 recovery is an opportunity to create change in a sector that has seriously lagged in its climate response. Now is the time to support farmers to adopt low-emission, high-resilience approaches that benefit farmers and provide ecological goods and services such as clean water, air, biodiversity, and renewable energy from which all Canadians benefit.
Farmers want help in building climate resilience. Farmers also want to lead.
In the context of a green recovery from COVID-19, Farmers for Climate Solutions recommends the following five priorities:
Make farms green energy powerhouses
Encouraging on-farm renewable energy generation, fuel switching and building retrofits, will help farmers propel Canada toward a green energy transition. This investment supports new revenue generation and savings for farmers, and creates new rural green jobs.
Provide incentives for climate-friendly farming
Scaling up agri-environmental incentives will stimulate a transition toward lower-emission, highly resilient agriculture with more capital for farmers to adopt new approaches.
Help innovative farmers mentor other farmers
Investing in agri-environmental agrology services, especially through farmer-to-farmer training, demonstrations and mentorship, will spread climate resilient practices from field to field to field.
Reward farmers who reduce their climate risk
Adapting and adding bonus structures to risk management programs to encourage risk-reducing practices is an innovative way to offer savings and extra capital to farmers while building resilience.
Support new and young farmers
The future of our food and its ecological footprint depends on youth and new entrants. Encourage young and new farmers to enter and thrive in the sector.
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