Mr. Speaker, I rise today in my role as the NDP's agriculture critic to give recognition to the important role Canada's farmers can play in combatting climate change.
Farmers are on the front lines of climate change. Heat waves, forest fires, droughts and floods can all bring about economic disaster to farms and have significant negative mental health effects on farmers.
While the entire food supply system is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, it is a well-known fact that agro-ecological and agroforestry methods can improve the soil's ability to sequester carbon. In some scenarios, a well-managed hectare of soil can sequester between 10 and 20 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year.
Helping our farmers move towards alternative agro-ecological production systems can help maintain yields without sacrificing people and ecosystems. Agricultural methods that reduce our emissions while sequestering carbon will be a big part of the solution to combatting destructive climate change, something I hope all political parties in the House will recognize.