An ambitious roadmap for emissions reduction and resilience in the next Agricultural Policy Framework
Farmers for Climate Solutions (FCS) assembled a task force of farmers, researchers, economists and policy experts in late 2021 to examine how the next Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) could accelerate climate action in Canadian agriculture.
This task force is seeking to identify beneficial management practices (BMPs) that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon storage and increase resilience on Canadian farms, and to suggest policies and programs that will encourage the rapid adoption of these practices. This work complements the findings of FCS’s Business Risk Management task force, which completed its work in March.
This Interim Report is intended to provide preliminary findings and recommendations to policymakers and agricultural stakeholders as early as possible in the APF development process. Key practices, costs, mitigation potential and policy recommendations have been identified and calculated, but some values may be subject to change. A final report, including a comprehensive technical report that describes all assumptions and calculations, will be released in early June. FCS welcomes input and suggestions at this interim stage to improve the findings and recommendations.
Emissions Mitigation Potential
The task force identified 18 beneficial management practices that have the potential to reduce GHG emissions, increase carbon sequestration, and increase resilience on Canadian farms. All of these BMPs are proven, implementable practices that are already in use in Canada, and all are supported by peer-reviewed data that quantify GHG mitigation potential. Together, these BMPs have the potential to mitigate emissions from the agriculture sector by 11.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2030.