Thank you very much. That leaves me as the last witness of the last hearing, I understand.
It certainly is a privilege to be here, especially with colleagues who I don't think I've met before but who have very common interests in protecting the environment. It's certainly a privilege to speak with you as well today. So welcome to Halifax.
In a past life I was the manager of the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan, so conservation is very close to my heart as well. But I come to you today as the director of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada, which was established in 2001. It's the only centre of its kind in Canada dedicated to supporting research, extension, and professional education in organic agriculture. We're located at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, soon to be a part of Dalhousie University.
One of our main projects right now is we're managing an $8-million national organic research program, supporting over 50 scientists across the country at 35 different research stations and collaborator sites.
Organic agriculture is the most rapidly growing sector in agriculture. In terms of land acreage, Saskatchewan would be the leader. In terms of policy development and number of farmers, Quebec would be, in terms of numbers of farmers, equal to or close to that of Saskatchewan. And Quebec is definitely a leader in terms of policy in terms of organic agriculture.
I've been invited to provide recommendations regarding the development of a national conservation plan, and I place my comments in the context of agriculture and agricultural lands. Today I will discuss how organic agriculture is a defined model for a sustainable production system, with conservation of biodiversity and resources at the core of its guiding principles.
The past agricultural development model was productive but environmentally flawed. The general model was basically to continuously innovate, reduce farm gate prices, and externalize costs. This model drove the phenomenal achievements in productivity in industrial countries after World War II. However, the emphasis on increasing productivity was achieved largely through increased use of inputs, crop and livestock breeding for high-input conditions, reduced crop diversity, increasing the scale of farms and machinery, and the concentration of livestock production.
These practices have resulted in many issues in agriculture that were largely overlooked until a crisis hit, such as high levels of nitrates in groundwater; algal blooms and eutrophication of freshwater supplies; loss of biological diversity, including habitat; declining populations of pollinators; fish kills from soil erosion causing sedimentation of rivers and possibly pesticide or nitrate loading—the list could go on.
While economically driven agriculture has had its problems, there is recognition in the entire agricultural community that conservation of our land and water resources is critically important. This has led to a number of different production systems and industry- or government-led initiatives that support the principles of conservation. And organic agriculture is an example of one of the approaches to dealing with these issues.
What is conservation agriculture? “Conservation agriculture” is defined by Dumanski and his colleagues as
...not “business as usual”, based on maximizing yields while exploiting the soil and agro-ecosystem resources. Rather, conservation agriculture is based on optimizing yields and profits, to achieve a balance of agricultural, economic and environmental benefits.
So it's a balance of those three.
It advocates that the combined social and economic benefits gained from combining production and protecting the environment...are greater than those from production alone.
So the benefits of combining these characteristics are better than production alone.
With conservation agriculture, farming communities become providers of more healthy living environments for the wider community through reduced use of fossil fuels, pesticides, and other pollutants, and through conservation of environmental integrity and services.
So organic agriculture is a form of conservation agriculture, with guiding principles that directly support environmental sustainability.
Organic agriculture is a regulated and inspected production system driven by consumer demand both domestically and internationally. We're talking about the model of sustainable development here.
As described in the regulated Canadian standards, which are generally consistent with other standards around the world, there are seven guiding principles of organic agriculture, five of which directly relate to the environment. These five can be summarized as protecting the environment by minimizing degradation and pollution; maintaining the long-term fertility of the soil; maintaining biological diversity; recycling materials and resources; and relying on renewable resources.
Guided by these principles, the standards of organic agriculture as a precautionary approach prohibit the use of a number of substances and practices in favour of practices that more closely relate to the functioning of a natural ecosystem. These practices are being used around the world.
So here we have a prescriptive, regulated, internationally recognized system of production with conservation and sustainable development at the core of its principles. This is an example of a system that may contradict other approaches in agriculture but that offers a defined model of addressing agri-environmental issues. The system, albeit not perfect, does work. Numerous scientific papers have identified significant environmental benefits associated with organic agriculture.
My colleague Dr. Derek Lynch, also at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, who holds a Canada Research Chair on organic agriculture, recently wrote a review paper with colleagues. In that paper he reported that the consensus of data available to date indicates that the distinctiveness of practices in organic farming confers important environmental and ecological benefits. These include maintenance of soil organic matter and added return of carbon to the soil to improve health; reduced off-farm nitrogen and phosphorous losses; enhanced vegetative and wildlife biological diversity, extended sometimes to other taxa, depending upon the landscape; improved support for pollinators and pollination; and reduced energy use and improved energy efficiency.
A number of European countries have adopted policies that either directly support organic agriculture or support the production practices that define it. In consideration of these benefits, FiBL, the largest organic research institution in the world, headquartered in Switzerland, has more than 200 scientists employed by it working on organic and low-input production systems, both in Europe and around the world.
In organic agriculture, regulated standards have been developed that lead to reducing the environmental impacts and increasing efficiency in the utilization of resources, the results of which are certified organic products that have entered the marketplace both domestically and internationally at a premium price. We see a market-driven demand for a production system that is driven by environmental principles.
How do we design a national conservation program in relation to agriculture? We could isolate proven best management practices and provide support for those individual practices. However, the stability of an ecosystem is not a result of the functioning of a single part of it; it is a result of a complete and integrated system working together. Taking a reductionist approach and supporting a few individual practices is not the solution. Rather, complete farming systems guided by conservation, sustainability, and biodiversity enhancement are needed.
In terms of measuring success, there are many different services that an agri-ecosystem could provide, including augmenting food security; offering a source of economic livelihood; fostering habitat for plants, animals, and insects; protecting our water supply; and providing aesthetic and recreational value for the landscape. This is what we see much more in Europe, where they actually provide incentives to farmers to farm the land in a conservation-minded fashion, so that they provide recreational opportunities for their population.
As with many programs, there must be measures of success included to ensure that the desired outcomes are being achieved. These indicators must reflect our desire to protect natural resources, while still promoting development and utilization of the resources, and maintaining or improving the quality of life for all Canadians.
The components of a national conservation program should include clearly defined goals; mechanisms for stakeholders to develop a common vision; education in schools, universities, and among stakeholders; promotion of this vision to all Canadians; a blend of incentive programs that range from broad-scale impact on the structure and function of the ecosystem to those that also address crisis issues; and incentive programs that reach along the entire value chain, so if you want to affect the producers in the way they farm, you have to also consider the processors and retailers as well, and address issues that might trickle down the value chain.
We need to support programs that support conservation initiatives that are already under way and provide for integration of initiatives that support a vision of conservation. Research that supports development of practices that promote conservation and measure success from a holistic perspective are also needed.
I'll wrap up with my conclusion here.
The organic sector is very interested in participating in this process for a national conservation plan. It is essential that the agricultural community takes responsibility for its impact on the environment and preferably adopts sustainable practices without regulation. However, at the same time we must recognize that the farmers are in business, providing services to society, not the least of which is food security, and hence they should be compensated by society.
In choosing organic agriculture, farmers are choosing to place the responsibility upon themselves to farm in a manner that minimizes environmental impact. They are compensated for this by consumer willingness to pay a premium price for food.
Organic agriculture is an established and viable production system, with conservation and sustainable development at its core. It is a market-driven system of production that blends the goals of conservation, social well-being, and consideration for other living beings, and both environmental and economic sustainability. A model such as organic agriculture can be a perfect example of combining the vision of producers, processors, retailers, consumers, and the government in achieving conservation goals.
Thank you very much.