They have progressed in leaps and bounds compared with Canada. There's an agroforestry centre of excellence in Nebraska. The University of Missouri has the national agroforestry research leadership. The Association for Temperate Agroforestry is situated in the States, even though Canada is a member.
The point I'm trying to make here is that the amount of land area that has been brought under agroforestry systems significantly increased from 2011 to 2016, especially forest farming systems, which have seen a humongous amount of adoption. A lot of landowners are producing mushrooms, ginseng, and speciality medicinal plants. They have also crated niche markets for them, such as supplying specialty products to restaurants. That has also enhanced income for the landowners in the United States.
What made that happen was that the agroforestry strategic network policy provided incentives and guidelines for them to initiate such changes in the agricultural sector. That took off, and adoption went significantly higher. For example, in 1998, we brought 40 landowners to the University of Guelph, and we showed the land use systems and ecosystem services, plus the economic benefits these land use systems can contribute. All of them answered a questionnaire and said, “These land use systems contribute to the public good, but who is going to bear the cost? We are happy to adopt them, but why should I put in riparian buffers for somebody downstream to benefit? Will I get a tax credit on my property? What incentive will I get in order for me to invest in public-good land use systems?”
All of them contributed that answer. They did not dispute any of the economic, environmental, or ecosystem services these land use systems could bring about. They didn't dispute them at all, but the question was “who is going to bear the cost?” As the Canadian government has committed to the Paris accord, and we are spending $2.65 billion in developing countries to bring about the climate commitment of developing countries, I think we should also contribute to coming up with a policy measure similar to the United States agroforestry strategic network.
We started that. We had an agroforestry development centre situated in Indian Head, in Saskatchewan. They were trying to formulate the policy, but then it was closed. I think we need such initiatives in Canada.