Mr. Speaker, in response to part (a), rhe 193 new technologies adopted were to replace or upgrade the existing technology on farm or in the food-processing facility with technology that showed promise to generate measurable emission reductions categories under the program’s three priority areas.
The area of green energy and energy efficiency covers improvements that enable better management of energy-intensive agricultural processes, such as more energy-efficient technology for grain drying and grain handling; more energy-efficient facility heating systems; replacing fossil fuels or fossil fuel-derived energy with renewable energy such as solar electricity or biomass fuel.
The area of precision agriculture covers technology that contributes to more precise, and therefore reduced, input use, such as variable rate application technologies and GPS, auto-steering, guidance systems that optimize fertilizer and seed placement, reducing inputs and the number of passes in the field; subsurface or injection technologies that reduce fertilizer and water inputs and soil disturbance; - precision feed technologies that optimize livestock digestion and reduce methane production; precision harvesting equipment that reduces fossil fuel inputs.
The area of bioeconomy solutions covers using agricultural waste and by-products to generate energy or create bioproducts, such as anaerobic digesters and manure or compost management technologies.
The following is a breakdown of the 193 adopted clean technologies that were included in the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development’s report: 39% in grain drying and handling; 21% in precision agriculture; 18% in solar adoption; 5% in biomass heating; and 17% in “other”, which includes a combination of the various technologies outlined above.
In response to part (b), at an aggregate level, the performance reports provided information confirming that the clean technologies were being adopted as planned and are achieving the projects’ anticipated greenhouse gases emissions reduction results. In addition, the reports provide information on efficiencies gained and results achieved at a granular level. They also detail a number of challenges and unforeseen circumstances that affected the adoption and use of these technologies. For example, supply chain issues, labour shortages, and other COVID-related challenges contributed to delays in adoption for some producers. Furthermore, unforeseen circumstances such as unseasonably wet or dry conditions were also noted in a number of performance reports. This led to some results falling short of targets, and some exceeding them.
In response to part (c), please see “Database: Agricultural Clean Technology Program projects” at Canada.ca for a cumulative listing of all projects approved and announced as of March 7, 2024, under the agricultural clean technology program, adoption stream and research and innovation stream.
Note that the number of approved projects was 352 as of January 2024, when this program information was provided for the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development’s report.