Agriculture Committee on May 30th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I call this meeting to order.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to meeting No. 21 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

I will start with a few reminders.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House Order of November 25, 2021.

The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking, rather than the entirety of the committee.

May I remind you that screenshots or taking photos of your screen is not permitted.

For the folks in the room, we'll continue to abide by the order set by the Board of Internal Economy as it relates to health protocols.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Monday, January 31, 2022, the committee is resuming its study of the environmental contribution of agriculture. We have a one-hour panel here today before we move to committee business.

In the room, from the Canola Council of Canada, we have Jim Everson, who serves as president. Mr. Everson, it's good to see you here in person.

From the Beef Cattle Research Council, we have Andrea Brocklebank, who serves as the executive director, and Reynold Bergen, who is the science director. Welcome to you both on the line.

From Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc., we have Jennifer Haverstock, who serves as manager of horticulture, and Rosalie Gillis-Madden, technical manager of the on-farm climate action fund. Let me say, as a Nova Scotia MP, thank you to Perennia for all your good work. It's great to see you on the screen.

I'd also like to recognize Mr. Chiang, who is joining us today. Welcome to agriculture. We hope you enjoy your time on our committee.

We have five minutes for opening remarks from each of the parties.

I would ask Ms. Andrea Brocklebank or Mr. Reynold Bergen to start, for five minutes, please.

[Andrea Brocklebank, Executive Director, Beef Cattle Research Council]

Thank you for the opportunity to present to you today. I'm Andrea Brocklebank, and I'm joined by Dr. Reynold Bergen. We're both with the Beef Cattle Research Council.

The Canadian beef industry is a significant contributor to Canada's environmental goals. Canadian grasslands sequester the carbon emissions from more than three million cars annually, benefit biodiversity and produce high-quality protein from low-quality land and feed that often can't be used by humans. Producing one kilogram of Canadian beef generated 15% less greenhouse gas and used 17% less water in 2011 than 1981. Building on this, the beef industry has set ambitious goals for sustainability for 2030, which include a 33% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, sequestering 3.4 million more tonnes of carbon annually and preserving the remaining grasslands and ecosystem services they support.

Industry-driven research and innovation are critical to accomplishing these goals. Here are a few examples. Wildfires are destructive to wildlife, humans and the economy, and they release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Dr. Fraser's team at Thompson Rivers University is studying how strip logging and integrating forage, cattle and trees can increase both forage and tree growth while reducing wildfire risks. Alternating forage strips increase plant diversity, produce more forage for cattle and wildlife, tend to sequester more carbon and provide a firebreak. The recent documentary Too Close to Home demonstrates how cattle are increasingly viewed as a way to reduce the risk of wildfires.

The northern Great Plains is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world. The Nature Conservancy of Canada estimates that more than 70% of Canada's prairie grasslands have been lost to cultivation, urbanization and development. In Alberta, 83% of the original grassland is gone and in Manitoba, 99% of the tall grass prairie ecosystem is gone. Remaining grasslands survive because of cattle.

An Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute study found that most birds and mammals do just as well or better on cattle pastures as they would in a natural setting. Wildlife need to move and the loss of grasslands destroys their natural corridors. Another study is revealing how continued conversion of pasture to cropland will slowly squeeze wildlife out of southern and central Alberta until only a narrow corridor remains along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

Understanding these impacts is important to inform policies that encourage producers to preserve these ecosystems, which do much more than retain vast amounts of soil carbon.

Industry is also focused on quantifying the environmental benefits of using cattle to upcycle food and feed waste. Increasing feed and forage productivity is further enhancing producer sustainability and carbon sequestration. Feed additives and other animal health technologies are key to increasing productivity while reducing our environmental footprint.

Maintaining this momentum and accelerating future improvements will require investment in research and extension. Innovation is a long game. It requires consistent long-term funding. Our industry understands this and has more than quadrupled our investments in research through the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-off, but government partnership is key.

The federal government has launched several research programs related to the government's climate goals. This is positive, but adding short-term programs with diverse priorities does not compensate for declining investment in long-term applied research. Despite the success of the agriscience clusters, federal funding has been spread across more sectors. Demand has increased but funding has not. Government-to-industry funding ratios have declined, reducing the number of projects industry can support to advance our shared goals.

Current research funding programs are five years or less, but it often takes much longer to reach practical application or a market-ready technology. Short-term projects aren't always easily renewed due to shifting priorities in funding. This significantly impairs the long-term data collection necessary to inform sound environmental programs and policies. Research expertise and infrastructure are also critical. Fiscal pressures mean that universities are not replacing retiring researchers, leaving gaps in our capacity. Core institutional funding for agriculture needs to be rejuvenated to hire researchers and bolster infrastructure.

In closing I would like to summarize. The Canadian beef industry is a significant contributor to Canada's environmental goals, but we need to focus on the maintenance of existing grasslands, appropriate valuation of ecosystem services provided and continuing to enhance the overall sustainability of the industry.

Industry-driven research and innovation are critical to addressing all of these things and achieving the 2030 government and industry goals. This will require more government and industry investment that focuses on research capacity, infrastructure and longer-term consistent program funding.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Ms. Brocklebank.

Mr. Everson, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Jim Everson, President, Canola Council of Canada]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee, for having the Canola Council here today. My name is Jim Everson. I'm president of the Canola Council of Canada.

The council, as you probably know, encompasses all aspects of the value chain—all the growers of canola, the processors, exporters and others. They work together to grow the industry. The industry is worth $30 billion to the Canadian economy and is the most valuable field crop that Canadian farmers produce.

Let me start by saying that any discussion on the environmental contribution of agriculture must take place in the context of recognizing the relationship to the other two legs of the sustainability stool—economic and social—and must also recognize that these are not mutually exclusive but interdependent. Canola and its production systems are part of a healthy agriculture ecosystem that has evolved and continues to evolve to enable biodiversity, to sequester carbon and to produce more canola per acre than ever before. This is reflected as part of our current strategic plan and other efforts that we undertake. Those efforts include recognition of the following.

The first is soil and water health. Soil obviously is an essential resource for agriculture. Preserving topsoil not only helps retain organic matter but also keeps more carbon stored safely in the earth and keeps land fertile, productive and profitable for farmers. As canola has displaced summerfallow on the Prairies and helped enable the adoption of conservation tillage, hundreds of millions of tonnes of topsoil and organic matter are preserved, as are the carbon and nutrients that are stored within.

In addition to benefiting soil and water health, canola also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to its potential for carbon sequestration, agriculture was deemed to be the economic sector with the greatest near-term potential to mitigate GHGs by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's fifth assessment. Responsible farming practices allow Canadian farmers to sequester 11 million tonnes of GHG in their fields each year. Approximately 70% of all carbon sequestered by Canadian field crops is due to canola.

As we look to increase yields and build our productivity in line with our strategic plan, canola has the potential to capture and sequester significant additional carbon moving forward. This is a prime example of the economy and the environment going hand in hand. Land use efficiency is all about generating more food from the same amount of land that is already being farmed. By adopting leading-edge genetic traits, including herbicide tolerance and disease resistance, as well as innovations in crop protection and nutrient management, Canadian farmers are able to produce more canola per acre while maintaining the same farmland footprint. In fact, the canola industry has a goal of reducing the amount of land required to produce one tonne of canola by 40%.

We're also reducing energy use through innovations in machinery and agronomic practices, and protecting biodiversity where there's a range of really beneficial insects within the canola canopy. As an innovative and forward-looking industry, we recognize that new innovations will provide us with the opportunity to produce canola even more sustainably in the future.

New innovations and policy developments have also positioned Canadian canola as a major climate solutions provider for other sectors of the economy as well. With the development and finalization of the clean fuel regulations by the government here in Canada almost complete, there is a significant opportunity for canola to be a feedstock of choice for Canada's biofuels market, which will help reduce emissions in the transportation sector, the most GHG-intensive sector of our economy. Doing so will both reduce emissions and help cement Canada's position in the processing and renewable fuels space.

That said, a number of considerations must inform our ongoing efforts and work.

First among those is recognition that demand signals for canola seed, oil and meal are very strong for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, while we remain committed to doing even more, the reality is that the world wants and needs more canola. We need growers, industry and government to work in partnership to meet the food and energy security objectives while also reducing and continually improving performance on environmental objectives. We must also recognize that while farming practices are an important component of those emission reduction efforts, they can only go so far.

Second, partnership should focus on smart investment and incentives, not regulating away the production tools that farmers rely on, such as fertilizer and safe, highly regulated crop protection products. Like in all sectors of the Canadian economy, the shift to a net-zero carbon economy in agriculture is a major transformation. Canadian growers need to be supported on this journey, not disadvantaged.

Third, recognize that Canada's grain and oilseeds sector is dependent on maintaining competitiveness in global markets. Ninety per cent of Canadian canola production goes to export. As Canada takes steps to improve environmental outcomes, we need to do so without adding costs that render our top-quality products less competitive.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see you nodding at me, so I'll move on and allow the next speaker to speak.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Everson.

I now invite Ms. Haverstock or Ms. Gillis‑Madden to take the floor for five minutes please.

[Jennifer Haverstock, Manager, Horticulture, Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.]

Good morning, Mr. Blois and committee members. Thank you for the invitation to appear today.

Perennia Food and Agriculture is a provincial development agency with the mission to support growth, transformation and economic development in Nova Scotia's agriculture, seafood and food and beverage sectors. Applied practical solutions and sharing information with farmers in the fields, in their barns and in their greenhouses is one of the key ways we fulfill this mission.

As mentioned, I'm Jennifer Haverstock. I'm a certified crop adviser and professional agrologist. I started with Perennia as a small fruit specialist six years ago, and I'm now the manager of horticulture.

With me today is Rosalie Gillis-Madden, also a certified crop adviser and professional agrologist, who has been Perennia's vegetable specialist for the past seven years. Recently, Perennia was selected to be a delivery partner for the federal on-farm climate action fund in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Rosalie has taken on a new role within Perennia as technical project manager for that program.

I want to acknowledge today that I join you from the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, located in the traditional land and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people, who have stewarded this land for centuries.

The knowledge and passion of Perennia's 25-member agriculture team is laser-focused on sustaining and advancing our farms. We're able to do this work because of our province's commitment to supporting our farming industry for the past 20 years. We answer producer technical questions, work with them to develop integrated management strategies, test new production methods and crop varieties and provide education and training to farmers across the province. We also play a key role as a two-way bridge between government and industry on agricultural production challenges and opportunities.

Atlantic Canada is unique, with humid conditions, acidic soils and numerous microclimates. We have a diverse mixed-farming landscape where it's very common to see a large-scale poultry operation next to a vineyard and next to a small vegetable farm. Nova Scotia's farmers have made the most of our climate and land resources. Areas of fertile land support a vibrant horticulture industry. Wild blueberries flourish on marginal lands and less arable land is often ideally suited for forage and livestock.

Nova Scotia's farmers are concerned about the environment and want to adopt practices that can help them to be more resilient in the face of climate change. Rising costs of everything from feed to fertilizer to fuel can make it hard for farmers to invest in these new sustainable farming practices.

Producers are stewards of the land, and they're business people, too, and Perennia specialists have worked hard to help producers understand how beneficial management practices can provide both environmental and economic sustainability. We have worked hard to share the message that improved nutrient management means that applied fertility goes directly to feeding the crop, giving farmers more return on their dollar. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and leaching to the environment.

We demonstrate to growers how cover cropping goes beyond the environmental benefit of sequestering carbon. It improves soil health, builds resilience, provides erosion control and improves water-holding capacity. Our specialists also work with growers to implement rotational grazing plans, which result in improved forage quality and reduced methane emissions from cattle and contribute to more resilient pastures and better livestock health overall.

While strides have been made to adapt to climate change through on-farm research, field tests of integrated management approaches and developing new technology tools for on-farm use, there is still much work to do.

For Nova Scotia farmers to mitigate and adapt to climate change, consideration should be given to the unique conditions our producers are facing, and here's what they need: policies and programs targeted to Atlantic Canada that make it easier for farms to invest in sustainable production practices; new investment in technologies that guide daily decisions on production and inputs; and continued access to on-call extension services and regionally specific research and advice.

It has been shown that the adoption of beneficial management practices increases when farmers understand the principles and have seen the practices implemented on their neighbour's farm and when the economic benefits are clear. That's what we're striving to do at Perennia. Enabling informed decision-making is at the heart of the research and extension services we provide to Nova Scotian farmers and is a key to a sustainable agriculture industry.

We look forward to continuing to work with government, industry organizations and producers to ensure that the agriculture industry is recognized and supported in the face of the changing climate and to ensure sustainable food security. The agriculture sector plays a significant role as an environmental steward.

Thank you for your time today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Ms. Haverstock and Ms. Gillis-Madden.

We'll turn to questions now, but I want to recognize that Ms. Valdez has signalled to me that we have some interns from the Canada-Philippine internship program. They're at the back of the room taking in some of the proceedings today.

Welcome to the Hill and welcome to the agriculture committee.

We're going to start. For six minutes, Mr. Barlow, you have the floor.

[John Barlow, Foothills, CPC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to our interns. I hope you're getting something out of this today.

I want to start with Ms. Brocklebank and Mr. Bergen. Thanks very much for being here today.

You were talking about some of the innovation and technology that the cattle industry is undertaking. One program that we've talked about at committee before is the 3-NOP food additive, which has been approved in the United States for use, and even the EU, but it seems to be taking an exorbitant amount of time here in Canada. It seems to be because we're treating it very differently in how we're analyzing its use.

From my understanding, it's been tested—Ms. Brocklebank, probably very much to your knowledge—in feedlots in southern Alberta. It can reduce methane emissions by up to 80%. What kind of a difference would it make to this industry to have this approved as soon as possible, and in use in Canada?

[Andrea Brocklebank]

To confirm, I think it's a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Is that correct, Reynold?

[Dr. Reynold Bergen, Science Director, Beef Cattle Research Council]

It depends a lot on the diet, but it's at least 30% and up to 80% in some cases.

[Andrea Brocklebank]

One of the things we've been looking at as an industry is feed additives. One of the lowest-hanging fruit, I'd say, is 3-NOP, which has been approved in some South American countries and other countries, primarily in the dairy industry to start, but also beef.

We see potential for it, and one of the things that we really recommend government look at is timely approval processes. Canada is a smaller market in many cases, and some of these new products coming in need to come in under an environmental claim, because they aren't an animal health product or a feed product. They are there strictly to reduce environmental emissions.

Streamlining our approval process to encourage these companies to apply—because it's quite a costly process to go through—is really important, because we have done research in Canada related to these things.

The other thing to point out, though, is that some of these additives coming in, while they have significant benefit from an environmental standpoint, they don't necessarily have a benefit from a production standpoint. How to incentivize producers who have faced a lot of challenges in recent years, with droughts and rising costs, to adopt these when there isn't a direct benefit to their operation is something we really need to work on with the government. While it is definitely beneficial, and our producers are focused on that, right now they're focused on survival with the rising costs and the drought situation. Much of our Prairies at this point are flooding, and in other areas.

[John Barlow]

Thanks, Ms. Brocklebank. I appreciate that.

We've had a chance to talk about the Guardians of the Grasslands documentary in the past as well. It provides some really good information.

One of the things I found, looking at that documentary, was that there was an experiment gone wrong when you removed cattle, as an example. I think it was from Cypress Hills in Saskatchewan. We still hear this message that a way to reduce emissions is to end the animal livestock industry and eat less meat. Can you talk about what happened when cattle were removed from some grasslands and grazing?

We talk about the grasslands being home to 60 species at risk. They're one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet. Can you talk about what the grazing does to the health of the land in those grasslands, specifically?

[Dr. Reynold Bergen]

Yes, certainly. I can take a shot at this one.

There are a couple of things that happen, and we haven't seen them exclusively in that area. We've also seen them across the line in Alberta, when Agriculture Canada left the Onefour research site and cattle came off there. One of the big concerns was that, without cattle to remove the forage, the forage builds up and the risk of prairie fires greatly increases. This was a major concern for the neighbourhood there. The risk of fire buildup is one of the big concerns, which relates back to Andrea's earlier comments about the fire suppression in B.C. and the role that cattle can play there.

The other thing is that species adapt to their environment and, as the environment changes, different species predominate and other species move out. To your point, we've seen that some of the range that is preferred by some very threatened species—burrowing owls, pronghorn antelope and all the rest of them—don't thrive in the absence of grazing, because they need the grass taken down so they can see their predators. When the grass has grown high, the predators can sneak up and eat the burrowing owls. It's just the way things work. There are winners and losers.

[John Barlow]

Thanks. I appreciate that. I may have time for one last question.

With the new negotiations on CAP, certainly I hope there's going to be a focus on research and innovation. What key areas of research and extension do you think the Beef Cattle Research Council would like to see focused on moving forward?

[Andrea Brocklebank]

We're getting close to April 1, 2023, so continuity of research programming is pretty important at this point, because gaps in research mean you lose technicians, you lose a lot of students and even annual trials that need to start in spring and all that. Our highest priority is ensuring program renewal. The science clusters program is one of the big programs that matters, but unfortunately, the funding envelope for it hasn't changed over the years, although the number of clusters has increased. That means there are more and more specific rules on what we can apply to for funding.

I will say, in this case with industry funding going in and the pretty clear strategy that we have—and I know other sectors like canola have—we're really working hard to make sure that we cover a breadth of areas, because there are no silver bullets in terms of moving the industry forward. It's a bunch of incremental change.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Ms. Brocklebank.

We are now going to turn to Mr. Turnbull.

I believe you're going to be splitting your time with Ms. Valdez, so I'll try to give you a signal about halfway.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thanks, Chair.

Thanks to all the panellists for being here today.

I really appreciated Ms. Haverstock's opening remarks, and I probably have some questions for Ms. Gillis-Madden.

I appreciated the comments you made, in particular about farmers being stewards of the land and also being business owners. I think we all recognize that there is a large potential for our farm operators to play across all of the various categories to fight climate change, but they've been under considerable pressures in terms of their business model in past years and particularly even more so today.

I'm interested, Ms. Gillis-Madden, in hearing about your experiences helping farmers in Nova Scotia access and utilize the on-farm climate action fund to help them implement new and more sustainable practices. In your experience, what is the interest level among farmers in adopting these practices? Would you say that we're at an early adoption phase, or is the greater farming community eager to adopt these more sustainable practices?

Go ahead, Ms. Gillis-Madden.

[Rosalie Gillis-Madden, Technical Manager, On-Farm Climate Action Fund, Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc.]

There's definitely lots and lots of interest in producers adopting these best management practices: cover cropping, nitrogen management and rotational grazing.

Many farmers have already started these BMPs, and OFCAF only funds new adopters of the best management practices, so there is some hesitation with existing farmers feeling like they're a little bit left out of the funding program, but there is certainly great interest. It's something we've been promoting at Perennia for years. We're really excited to see funding behind the implementation of some of these practices.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

How do you think the federal government could help speed up the adoption of these new and more sustainable practices?

[Rosalie Gillis-Madden]

A lot of it comes down to education, I would say. Farmers want to do the right thing, but it's about time, about understanding how time works in their business model and on their farm. We all know that cover crops are great, for example, but how do you work it into your crop rotation? When can you seed it? How late can you seed it? What's the seeding rate? How much residue can you plant into? Some of that really practical stuff is what farmers need to see in action to further their cover-cropping goals.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you for that, and I appreciated the comment made about your organization and role in helping promote informed decision-making. I think that's what you're talking about.

I have one quick question. Would you count the services that you provide as an intermediary as transition advisory services? Could you speak very briefly to the importance of those?

[Rosalie Gillis-Madden]

I'm not sure I understand the question. What do you mean by transitional advisory services?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

We've heard from other witnesses, in particular Rod MacRae, who came before this committee and talked about how some farm operators need advisory services to implement some of the research and make a better-informed decision. I was taking it, based on Ms. Haverstock's opening remarks, that it is, in fact, what Perennia is doing in Nova Scotia. I just wondered if you could speak to the importance of that.

[Rosalie Gillis-Madden]

Yes, that is indeed what Perennia does. We work with producers to implement best management practices on all sorts of things but definitely on these environmental BMPs, and we're figuring out how it works best for their farms and their business models.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you, Chair. I'll turn my time over to Ms. Valdez.