Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting Ducks Unlimited Canada to contribute to this very important study as the government develops the next agricultural policy framework for Canada.
We believe that the next framework should continue to support the growth of an environmentally sustainable agricultural sector while helping Canadians respond to global market demands.
My name is Jim Brennan. I am the director of government affairs at Ducks Unlimited, and I'm also the co-chair of the Green Budget Coalition. Joining me today is Paul Thoroughgood. Paul is Ducks' regional agrologist in prairie Canada, and our primary liaison with the agriculture industry. A farmer himself, Paul has been highly engaged in national discussions on agricultural sustainability, including the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops.
As the country's leading conservation organization, Ducks Unlimited Canada has been working for nearly eight decades to conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. Our work and achievements are largely the result of strong partnerships with private landowners. Thanks to the environmental commitment of 18,000 landowner partners, Ducks Unlimited has been able to conserve nearly 6.4 million acres of habitat to date.
Despite our combined efforts, wetland and other habitat loss in North America continues to increase at an alarming rate. Since European settlement began, Canada has lost nearly 70% of wetlands found on its southern working landscapes. We continue to lose more than 29,000 acres of wetlands each and every year. The consequences of this ecological loss are significant and can have long-term ramifications, not only for Canada's finances and climate resiliency but also for our agricultural sector's growth, competitiveness, and public trust.
As a society, we are already paying for many of the lost ecosystem goods and services, or EGS, that are the result of land conversion, including carbon capture and storage, water filtration services, flood attenuation, and groundwater recharge. Producers are also experiencing a number of environmental challenges that affect their bottom line, including more frequent flooding, soil erosion, and population declines of important pollinators and insects. These challenges will only be magnified by a changing climate.
We believe that the next agricultural policy framework presents a great opportunity to help grow a competitive and environmentally sustainable agriculture and agrifood sector, and at the same time take steps to reverse the negative habitat loss trajectory, impacts of which are already being felt by the Canadian economy.
Having environmental sustainability and climate change resiliency as key policy outcomes is an important start, especially because Canada is still playing catch-up in the sustainable sourcing market. Sustainability metrics like “no new land being brought into production” are being developed by domestic and international purchasers of agricultural products. These metrics measure impacts of native land conversion—for example, wetlands and grasslands—into agricultural production in terms of GHG emissions, biodiversity, and water quality.
The concern is that current government policies and programming under Growing Forward 2 do not provide the much-needed market signals or incentives to keep Canadian agriculture ahead of global trends like climate change adaptability or on-farm sustainability, both of which are significantly influencing global market demand, sector growth, and Canada's competitiveness.
As a result, many producers continue to make land use decisions today that have the potential to limit their foreign market access in the future. For example, when we examined three subwatersheds in Saskatchewan using the “no new land brought into production” measure, we found that two-thirds of land parcels would have failed their audit within the past decade.
The issue of newly cultivated land is closely linked to the sector's ability to address the impacts that climate mitigation measures will have on agriculture. While we recognize some of the industry's concerns, we also believe that Canadian agriculture is uniquely positioned to capitalize on some of the opportunities afforded by a low-carbon economy, provided that the right tools, programs, and policies are in place.
Certain agricultural industries have already made significant strides in reducing environmental footprint through such conservation and land management practices as no tillage. Another example is the 4R nutrient initiative led by Canada's fertilizer manufacturers, which helped reduce runoff of nutrient known to cause GHG emissions, algal blooms, and related declines in drinking water quality.
While these initiatives and practices are important, habitat conservation and restoration is still the best mechanism for delivering ecosystem services at watershed scale, which is critical to effective climate adaptation and resiliency.
At this time, I'd like to hand the mike over to my colleague Paul, who will offer you some ideas and suggestions on how the next APF can support the growth of an environmentally sustainable agricultural sector and help advance other important policy priorities.