Thank you very much for the opportunity to appear and be able to present Ducks Unlimited Canada's thoughts on the next generation of agricultural policy in Canada. We believe that an increased emphasis on our natural capital in agricultural areas can help improve the overall sustainability of this very important industry.
Ducks Unlimited Canada is a private non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation, restoration, and management of Canada's wetlands and upland habitats to benefit waterfowl, other wildlife, and people.
For almost 70 years we've been working with agricultural producers to increase the provision of waterfowl-friendly areas on lands they own and manage. We've delivered programs in conjunction with partners, including incentives to landowners through leases, conservation easements, incentive payments to convert marginal cropland to forage, and programs to entice producers to grow winter wheat. We've also conducted several pilot projects focused on utilizing the tax system to provide incentives to conserve natural areas.
Our natural capital includes our resources, ecosystems, land, and water and is as crucial to the wealth of this country as our human and productive capital are. The value of this capital is based on the quantity and quality of the ecological goods and services that flow from it. Examples of the “goods” are well known and include timber and agricultural commodities. The “services”, however, are extremely complex, are essential in supporting life, and are not easily replaced when lost. These include water purification, erosion control, mitigation of greenhouse gases, and protection from flooding events. We've been working to better understand the environmental and economic value of our natural capital and the goods and services it provides, including looking at carbon sequestration, the impact of wetlands on water quality and quantity, and on the environmental and economic benefits of forage conversion.
Many of the areas used for agriculture are also important to waterfowl and have thus been the focus of many of our programs in the past, and it is why we have a vested interest in the future of agricultural policy in Canada. Anyone who has spent time in the agriculture industry knows that certain activities have negatively impacted our water, fish, and wildlife resources.
However, my focus today is not to highlight those negative things but to focus on the positive environmental benefits that landowners provide, including clean air and water and wildlife habitat. But these producers are currently undercompensated for the provision of goods and services. By improving the linkage between the services that producers provide to the public and the public themselves, the provision of these services and the economic return to producers can increase. As we come to the end of the current agricultural policy framework and embark on the next generation, Ducks Unlimited Canada has developed several recommendations that we've submitted to this committee and to MPs previously.
The first is to have the recognition of environmental benefits fully entrenched in agricultural policy in the future. The national farm stewardship program should be enhanced and expanded to provide even greater environmental benefits and to move the policy discussion from focusing on the risks agriculture poses to increasing the benefits it provides. Although this is unlikely to “save the family farm”, it could provide a diversified revenue stream through expansion into carbon credit markets and through incentives for the provision of public goods. We encourage the government to develop fiscally responsible incentives based on measurable environmental benefits. The development of a national ecological goods and services program or policy founded on these principles will ensure it is effective, affordable, and sustainable, and we would be willing to assist Agriculture Canada in developing that framework.
Our second recommendation is to enhance the Greencover Canada program, which currently provides a broad suite of environmental benefits, such as greenhouse gas emissions reductions and improvements in the habitat available for fish and wildlife. However, as currently designed, only a small proportion of the acres under greencover has gone into priority waterfowl areas. The establishment of this perennial cover will help producers lower their input costs on cropland through reduced herbicide and fertilizer inputs and reduced machinery operating costs. From Ducks Unlimited Canada's perspective, expanding the program to two million acres in the Prairies over the next five years would significantly help to address the needs of waterfowl and other wildlife while providing direct benefits to producers.
Our final recommendation is that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, along with provincial and territorial governments, continue to promote wetland restoration through enhanced or preferential funding of it as an eligible activity within the current national farm stewardship program. Recognizing the contribution that landowners make when we're restoring wetlands will help ensure that these valuable areas are both restored and then retained on the landscape.
We've been encouraging our members and partners to provide input to the discussions on the next generation of agricultural policy, and we believe that the integration of the concept of ecological goods and services is integral to advancing the sustainability of the industry in Canada. The conservation of natural areas, and wetlands in particular, should be part of this new approach. The ecological goods and services concept recognizes the role that agriculture plays in society and is an area where more emphasis and research is needed. Our contribution to this research can help provide new opportunities for producers while improving the health of our environment, to the benefit of all Canadians.
To provide an example, we need only stroll down the pier to consider the Lake Winnipeg situation. This lake supports a commercial fishery that has an average annual landed value of over $20 million. It provides recreation and tourism opportunities and is host to sporting events and festivals. The Lake Winnipeg stewardship report notes that the lake also appears to be the most eutrophic among the world's 10 largest lakes, largely due to the enrichment of phosphorous and nitrogen. Because wetlands provide significant water filtration and flood attenuation, ongoing wetland loss in the watershed will only exacerbate the water quality deterioration. Agricultural policy designed to retain and restore wetlands could conceivably have profound benefits to the health of Lake Winnipeg and all of those who depend on it.
The Canadian government and Canadians in general have an opportunity to consider a new vision for agriculture. We have a choice. We can continue with the status quo or we can capitalize on the inherent wealth in our agricultural landscapes. We need to recognize the value of our natural capital and take a strategic approach to building on the assets we have. An effective ecological goods and services policy that recognizes and rewards the contribution of producers is an important component of an integrated strategy for the next generation. A focus on natural capital and the goods and services it provides can help diversify income, increase agricultural sustainability, and improve the quality of life for all Canadians.
I thank you for the opportunity to present our thoughts to this committee, and I welcome any and all questions you have.
Thank you.