On the farm innovation and sustainable practice drives agriculture's success: report

Thursday, March 8, 2012

by SUSAN MANN

The success of the Canadian agricultural industry relies on farmers investing in innovation and sustainable business practices, according to a new report by RBC Royal Bank and the Farm & Food Care Foundation.

Called Growing from Strength: productivity with sustainable innovation, the report released Monday provides an overview of the latest trends and technologies in the agricultural industry and outlines how farmers can incorporate environmental considerations into their strategic decision-making. It is the third in a series of reports aimed at helping leaders of Canadian organizations in different sectors better understand and benefit from the risks and opportunities of the environmental sustainability challenge.

Ontario farmers already understand the need to invest in environmental improvements on their farms. Foundation chair Bruce Christie says in 2010 the province’s farmers invested more than five times the amount in environmental improvements to their farms than they did in 1999.

In the report it says the average investment in environmental improvements by an Ontario farmer in 1999 was 53 hours and $13,557. In 2010 that jumped to 163 hours and $69,188 per farm.

Most of that investment was done through the Environmental Farm Plan process. Introduced in 1993, farmers voluntarily commit their time and money to complete the action items they outline in their own environmental plans. In Ontario, 35,000 Ontario farmers completed action items in their plans.

The Ontario plan has been copied in other provinces, with 10 provinces and one territory, the Yukon, adopting a similar-type of approach.

Christie says if environmental improvements are done right “they will probably cut some costs.” He says it’s also important for consumers to see that pollution is being reduced or eliminated, that wildlife habitat is being preserved, and waterways aren’t continuously being polluted.

In addition, adopting sustainable farming practices is just the right thing to do, he says.

“We need to feed more people with essentially the same land base or maybe even a shrinking land base so we really have to look after the arable soils that we have.”  

The Farm & Food Care Foundation works to communicate true and positive stories about Canada’s farming and food production systems to consumers. BF