Evidence of meeting #13 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was carbon.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
I'm sorry, Dr. Caron and Mr. Louis, but your time is up.
Mr. Perron, you have two and a half minutes.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Dr. Caron, I'll let you finish your previous answer in 30 seconds, please.
How do we encourage diversification of production? Are positive measures enough or should there be a timetable that would give people a stronger incentive to rotate crops more?
11:50 a.m.
Agronomist, Professor, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Chair in Conservation and Restoration of Cultivated Organic Soils, Université Laval, Soil Science and Agrifood Engineering Department, As an Individual
I think there should be incentives for introducing rotations. There are already local programs that encourage the adoption of green fertilizers, which would be a good incentive. Producers should be rewarded for taking initiatives in this direction, because the gains are only seen in the long term. If we don't encourage migration, we won't meet the targets.
We have no choice but to offer incentives not only to producers who will make this migration, but also to those who may have already started it and who have achieved certain indicators, such as percentages of organic matter or biodiversity indicators. So it's not just subsidies and direct assistance that should be provided to producers, but also related technical support that allows them to make gains they would not otherwise be able to see.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I'm glad you brought that up, because I was going to bring it up in my next question.
How can technical advice be improved? We hear all kinds of things, including producers being advised by product retailers. In your opening remarks, you talked about advisory groups and the strategic mistake made by the government when it got out of the business.
Can you sort out what is true and what is not true and what role the government should have in this area?
11:50 a.m.
Agronomist, Professor, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Chair in Conservation and Restoration of Cultivated Organic Soils, Université Laval, Soil Science and Agrifood Engineering Department, As an Individual
Right now, there is quite a dilemma. I don't know to what extent this applies to the rest of Canada, but in Quebec, the Agrologists Act has just been amended. Agronomists could receive a percentage on the sale of fertilizers or pesticides. At the same time, they provided advice. It was a very clear conflict of interest situation, which this new bill will eliminate.
There are networks of independent advisory clubs. I used to see this in the United States on a regular basis. We have this elsewhere in Canada, such as Alberta and Ontario. They should be helped, because they have less of a conflict of interest. In general, most have difficulty offering advice other than that associated with liming or fertilizer recommendations, because the other services are much more expensive.
Let's take the example of drainage plans. In most cases, producers think they have drainage problems, but often they also have very significant compaction problems. This goes undetected, because no one is doing the analysis necessary to carry it out. Obviously, if you don't do the analysis to detect the problem, then you're not fixing the problem properly.
These services are not offered by fertilizer retailers, but rather by independent advisory clubs.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Thank you, Mr. Perron and Dr. Caron.
Mr. MacGregor, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Dr. Bedard-Haughn, in your opening remarks, you made mention of the use of crop residue as a potential fuel source and how that might be quite detrimental to soil carbon efforts. In this Parliament and the previous Parliament, we have been tasked with looking at the issue of finding alternative fuel sources, particularly for grain dryers. There are technologies out there that are trying to use crop residue as a fuel.
Could you expand on your opening comments? I think those are going to be very helpful to us. Just expand on your opening remarks, but also on any suggestions you may have on what we should be pursuing.
11:55 a.m.
Dean and Professor, College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan, As an Individual
Sure. I'll focus it on two things.
The first would be that we need to make sure we're doing a complete life-cycle analysis when we're promoting these approaches: looking at where in the region we're placing this and then figuring out that if we are capable of the sciences, saying, okay, if we start to remove the residues, what will be the implications in the long term? Is it a matter of saying, no, you can only remove your residues this many times in a number of years and sell it to this plant, or is it only certain types of residues that can be used for that? That's one piece.
The other piece that I think we really need to be thinking about is that there are lands, particularly here in the Prairies, that aren't great for growing crops. We have a lot of salinity, for example. There are lands that aren't great for growing annual crops that might be well suited to producing other types of feedstocks.
Monsieur Caron mentioned agroforestry, for example. Are there fast-growing woody biomass crops, for example, that we could be growning in those spaces, or other types of residues that we could be producing on these more marginal agricultural lands and using those instead?
We want to make sure that we do a full life-cycle analysis and look at what are the implications of removing these residues based on the soils we are dealing with.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you for that clarification.
Chair, I'll wrap up there. Thank you.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.
To our witnesses, Ms. Bedard-Haughn and Mr. Caron, thank you so much for your presence and your testimony here today. As members have expressed, I know that it has been beneficial to us.
Colleagues, we're going to move quickly to our second panel in just two or three minutes. Don't go far.
I will turn it over to the clerk to do some sound checks. Thanks.
Noon
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
We are going to get started with our second panel. Joining us virtually via video conference today, from BioIndustrial Innovation Canada, we have A.J. (Sandy) Marshall, who serves as the executive director.
Welcome.
From the Canadian Canola Growers Association, we have Mike Ammeter, who is the chair, and Dave Carey, vice-president, government and industry relations.
Mr. Carey, I think you've given quite a lot of testimony before committees. Welcome back.
From Oberland Agriscience Inc., in my home province of Nova Scotia, we have Greg Wanger, who serves as the founder and chief executive officer.
Welcome to all of you. You will have five minutes for opening remarks.
We're going to start with Mr. Marshall for five minutes.
It's over to you, my friend.
Noon
A. J. Sandy) Marshall (Executive Director, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada
Good afternoon.
Thank you very much, honourable chair and members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, for this opportunity to speak today.
Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, known as BIC, is a nationally focused, not-for-profit organization based in Ontario, but with a track record of success across Canada. We are a leader in the development of the Canadian bioeconomy, providing critical strategic investment advice and services to business developers, mostly start-ups, on clean, green and sustainable technologies.
In particular, BIC is focused on enabling Canada to become a globally recognized leader in sustainability by converting renewable resources, such as agricultural and forestry co-products and residues, into value-added bioproducts, such as bioenergy, low-carbon hydrogen, renewable natural gas biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. These industrial bioproducts find their way into a wide range of commercial applications which support Canada's commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
Low-carbon hydrogen, renewable natural gas, and biofuels generated from renewable resources are reducing the carbon intensity of the energy pool used for housing and mobility. Biochemicals and biomaterials can be used to produce materials to replace fossil-based alternatives for advanced manufacturing applications, such as automotive, truck and bus, aerospace and construction.
Low-value, sustainably sourced renewable resources can also be converted into stable biocarbon, which can be used as an excellent soil amendment for agriculture and sequester carbon for generations. Advancing Canada's circular bioeconomy through these innovative technologies will have a significant climate change impact through reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
BIC has a proven track record in this area. We have helped create jobs and made strategic investments in companies by building clusters and developing biomass-based value chains. Since inception, BIC has invested $19.5 million in 32 early-stage companies that have created more than 5,000 jobs, leveraged over $350 million in third party investment and more than $1.8 billion in follow-on investment. These actions have contributed to the transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon, circular economy.
Our portfolio companies have reduced a documented one megatonne of CO2 emissions and are projecting to further reduce that by more than 13 megatonnes by 2030. In 2021, Canada announced a plan to reach a 40% to 45% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, and enshrined in legislation is Canada's commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. These are ambitions that Canada and BIC share, and we know that the government is looking for all available options to find these reductions.
While it is important that all sectors and industries play a role, the government needs to ensure that the start-ups are not forgotten in the process.
Canada has the abundant and sustainable biomass resources and is highly adept at generating value from them. These abundant natural resources have shaped the country from coast to coast. Historically, Canada's traditional industries, forestry, agriculture, fisheries and mining, have been the economic drivers creating much of the fabric of Canadian business and culture.
It is estimated that Canada generates more than 50 million tonnes per year of sustainable agricultural residues that are available for conversion into bioproducts. In addition, co-products from food and protein production, such as starch, fibres and oils, are valuable feedstocks for industrial bioproducts such as plastics and resins.
To help Canada reach net zero by 2050, the government should build a national green business accelerator initiative, which mission would be to make more capital seed funding available. Such a government-backed investment should have specifically targeted funds for business opportunities with the potential to have the highest impact on reducing emissions in communities from coast to coast. This would give private investors and accelerators the confidence they need to commit themselves to put start-ups on track for success.
In summary, BIC wants to continue to partner with government and the agricultural sector in Canada by investing in early stage businesses to help them innovate and reach our goal of net zero. Canada has the world's most abundant and sustainable biomass resources and is highly adept at generating value from them. This reality presents an opportunity that we need to leverage, and we have the experience and track record to help. We can work together to address the ways in which Canada's competitive advantages, including access to biomass, global leadership in forestry and agriculture, sustainable resource management and a skilled workforce, can make Canada a world leader.
I look forward to answering your questions.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Thank you very much, Mr. Marshall.
We're now going to, I believe, Mr. Carey, who's going to have opening remarks on behalf of the canola group.
It's five minutes over to you. I'll let you decide who wants to go first.
12:05 p.m.
Dave Carey Vice-President, Government and Industry Relations, Canadian Canola Growers Association
Go ahead, Mike.
12:05 p.m.
Mike Ammeter Chair, Canadian Canola Growers Association
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to speak today.
My name is Mike Ammeter and I'm the chair of the Canadian Canola Growers Association. I farm at Sylvan Lake, Alberta, which is an hour and half north of Calgary. I grow canola, pulses, wheat and barley on approximately 1,400 acres of land.
With me today is Dave Carey, CCGA's vice-president of government and industry relations, who is based in Ottawa.
CCGA is the national organization representing Canada's 43,000 canola farmers. Canola is Canada's most widely seeded crop, generating the largest farm cash receipts of any agricultural commodity and earning farmers over $12 billion in 2021. Ninety percent of our crop is exported as seed, oil and meal. The canola sector contributes $29.9 billion to Canada's economy every year and supports over 200,000 jobs.
Canola farmers are committed to a sustainable future and play an important role in advancing our collective environmental ambitions. By 2025, canola farmers plan to reduce their fuel usage by 18% per bushel, increase land use efficiency by 40% per bushel and sequester an additional five million tonnes of CO2 using 4R nutrient stewardship practices on 90% of canola acres. They continue to safeguard the more than 2,000 beneficial insects that call canola fields and surrounding habitat home.
To reach these goals, we need all the tools in the tool box in terms of access to innovative technologies and practices that will help us continue to soften our environmental footprint while ensuring our farms remain economically sustainable and competitive.
Farmers have a proven track record of adopting innovation that benefits the environment, like conservation tillage or zero till. Over a decade ago, I personally began to practice zero till on my farm as a way to use finite resources more efficiently and to improve soil conditions. By voluntarily adopting this practice, farmers like myself have improved soil cover, sequestered carbon and reduced soil erosion risk while reducing fuel and labour requirements. In 1991, 7% of Canadian farmland was seeded with no-till practices. By 2016, this number had increased to over 60%.
To accomplish these sustainability goals and practices, the canola sector has also set a production target to reach 26 million tonnes and 52 bushels per acre of canola by 2025. Not only is this a sector goal, but it also aligns with the Government of Canada's own objective of expanding agri-food exports to $85 billion by 2025. It will be difficult to increase production given that farmers are also tasked with meeting the target of reducing absolute levels of fertilizer emissions by 30%.
The announcements to expand crush capacity domestically—adding up to an additional seven million metric tonnes of demand annually—illustrates that industry is willing to invest in Canada and the canola sector. However, they need to feel confident that the regulations in the clean fuel standard enable canola production as a feedstock for biofuel and that we can also meet our own production goals to see these investments become a reality. Agriculture clearly has a unique role to play in expanding Canada's economy, but production will need to continue to increase to meet demand.
To meet government and industry targets, farmers will need to invest in our operations—in new technologies or equipment—and potentially take risks on implementing new practices. Farmers will make these investments when they are confident in the economic stability and sustainability of their operations. Specifically, government can help facilitate this by ensuring farmers have access to predictable and reliable risk management programs, such as AgriStability and AgriInvest.
Another way to encourage farmers to invest in new technologies and practices is by supporting Bill C-234. By providing relief from carbon pricing on natural gas and propane, those dollars that would otherwise be paid by farmers can be invested in technologies that will have a positive environmental outcome. Rebates will not make up for the costs incurred by carbon pricing.
Lastly, it is vital that the government stick to science-based decision-making, especially when reviewing pest control products and associated maximum residue limits. Streamline approval processes for seed varieties where possible, so Canadian farmers can remain competitive and sustainable.
In conclusion, it's vital that the focus of sustainability be not just environmental but also economic to ensure that our collective goals are achieved. Canola farmers take pride in how we care for our natural resources. No one has more of a vested interest in the environment and in ensuring the sustainability of our farms to be able to pass them on to the next generation than we do.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today. I look forward to questions.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Thank you Mr. Ammeter.
We'll move now to Mr. Wanger for five minutes, please.
12:10 p.m.
Dr. Greg Wanger Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Oberland Agriscience Inc.
Thank you to the chair and thank you to the committee for this opportunity to address you today.
I am part of what's a relatively new agriculture industry here in Canada, and that's the insect farming industry. Oberland Agriscience was incorporated in 2017, and we're just breaking ground on our first large-scale facility here in Halifax. Across Canada there are about 25 insect farms of varying scales.
As to what we do, most of us take in organic waste and organic residues. We use that to make feed for our insects, which then go to help the food system in three main ways to boost its resiliency. One, we help in the reduction of food waste by the upcycling of that food waste into nutritious feed for our insects. We also produce a high-quality protein product, which then goes into agriculture, aquaculture and the pet food industry. Finally, we produce a product that usually comes out the back end of the insect. That is a very good fertilizer, or very good soil amendment. The talk this morning has been about soil health, and that is an area where the insect industry can really help.
I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I'm a recovering academic, as I like to say. I have a Ph.D. in microbiology, and now I've transitioned into the entrepreneur space. It's been really interesting to bring the research background that I have into this field right now.
At Oberland Agriscience we're striving to be a zero-waste facility. Everything that comes into our facility has a saleable home. Our new facility will be powered by 100% renewable energy, which actually allows us to produce protein at among the lowest CO2 equivalence per kilogram of protein at production.
This is an exciting and interesting industry across the world, but really so in Canada. Canada has some of the largest insect farms in the world right now, particularly out on the west coast. One farm in Calgary, Enterra, is one of the largest in the world. There are several others—Quebec in particular has several large ones—that we are all pushing to scale. We are trying to meet the rising demand for protein and these agricultural products.
I look forward to all the questions that may be posed to me. Thank you again for this opportunity.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Thank you very much, Mr. Wanger.
That ends our opening statements. We will move to questions.
I believe it will be either Mr. Barlow or Mr. Falk who will start. I apologize. It's Mr. Falk, perhaps; I don't know. It's the Conservatives, anyway.
Mr. Barlow, it's over to you.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
John Barlow Conservative Foothills, AB
Thanks, Mr. Chair. You got a late start on the day, with horrible flights, so I can understand that you'd be a bit off; no problem at all.
I'm going to start with the canola growers.
Mr. Ammeter, you were talking near the end of your presentation about the importance of making science-based decisions when it comes to policy and regulations put forward by the government. One issue that we really haven't talked about yet, although certainly we're early in the study, is the importance of new technology and innovation right to the very beginning—seed development and those type of things.
I believe our climate goals and our biodiversity goals are achievable, but you need to ensure that the roadblocks are out of the way for you to achieve those goals. How important is it to have those science-based decisions on things like GMOs, gene editing and those types of things to allow us to meet our environmental goals and still meet our commitments in terms of yield, especially when we have a potential food security crisis around the world?
12:15 p.m.
Chair, Canadian Canola Growers Association
We look to science all the time. I'll take the very simplest thing I can think of, which is soil testing. If I don't know what I'm doing, then I'm guessing. When it applies to seed technology and innovations like that, I need the science that backs that up and to trust the science.
On the innovations that you talked about, I think a lot of those things come out of “proven science”, if you like. It's kind of a bad way to put it—“proven science”—but we look to those things and adopt them. I'll go back as far as zero till. That was stuff we did that we recognized had a benefit to us, and we adopted that right away. It was backed up by good science, if you will.
Dave, I don't know if you want to wade in on anything about that.
12:15 p.m.
Vice-President, Government and Industry Relations, Canadian Canola Growers Association
I will just say that there's no silver bullet. The key things are crop protection and the products. Herbicides and pesticides actually have an environmental benefit, because using a small amount of herbicide allows for no till. The latest and greatest seed innovation may be canola that's able to produce some of its own nitrogen, use less water or stand up to diseases. They're all part of the tools in that tool box that Mike alluded to earlier. Those are critical. That's how we're going to innovate.
I think we need a regulatory environment that allows that to be brought to market and encourages the investments to be made here in Canada, because those companies compete globally for dollars to be brought to the Canadian marketplace.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
John Barlow Conservative Foothills, AB
With that, Mr. Carey and Mr. Ammeter, one of the things we often hear is how long it takes to get approvals for some of this new technology and innovation, and we tie that to reaching our environmental goals. Are there some recommendations that you would have on roadblocks that need to be removed, or some obstacles that need to be streamlined to ensure that we can reach some of these goals and our potential?
12:15 p.m.
Chair, Canadian Canola Growers Association
Offhand, John, I can't think, of any. Some of the details of how these things get done get a little bit lost in the woods.
I am a farmer, so I see the effect of it and I know what's going on. I know it's a drag by regulation. I don't always understand the intricacies or the nuances inside of that, but I do understand the net effect, which is that sometimes we get these roadblocks. As I say, they would affect a producer. This just leads to some frustrations as to why this is taking so long. As I say, I don't have enough knowledge of the intricacies of some of those things and the various departments within government, etc., and why they take so long. That said, I do know they take a bit longer than what we think they probably should.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
John Barlow Conservative Foothills, AB
Thanks, Mike. I appreciate that.
You mentioned the willingness, let's say, of farmers wanting to invest to improve their equipment, to improve their own technology on a farm to meet their environmental goals, to remain sustainable not only environmentally but also, certainly, economically. You also mentioned that to do this there needs to be some confidence in the economic stability of the business and farm itself.
We saw the emissions reduction plan that was released last week, and according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report, this carbon tax is going to be taking more than a billion dollars out of the pockets of farmers but is not actually going to reduce emissions. Can you elaborate a little bit more on why it's more important to have that money in the pockets of farmers to invest in their operations rather than government taking that out of the pockets of farmers?
April 4th, 2022 / 12:20 p.m.
Chair, Canadian Canola Growers Association
The first thing that pops into my mind is.... I think, perhaps, a number of you, if not all, have had a chance to go a regional farm show where equipment was being showcased. It's a little bit of a problem for farmers. It's worse than a candy store for children. We go there and we see the new equipment and new technology. We have an extremely long history of adopting new technology, and it's not just for fun, because we see the value of that. So if you leave the money in our pockets, we will adopt that.