Pulse Canada has been actively engaged in the proposed Sustainable Agriculture Strategy (SAS) since consultations were launched in December 2022, including participation in the Advisory Committee. We are pleased to comment on the discussion document.
Pulse Canada is the national industry association that represents growers, processors, and traders of pulse crops (peas, lentils, dry beans, chickpeas and faba beans) in Canada. The Canadian pulse industry has been steadily growing for decades, with Canada now being the 2nd largest producer and largest exporter of pulses in the world. Pulse growers and pulse production are a fundamental component of sustainable agriculture systems in Canada, as the nitrogen fixation capacity of pulses provides a key environmental benefit to Canadian cropping systems. Adding pulses to crop rotations is a proven method to immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Canadian cropping systems while being agronomically beneficial without the need to test and adopt new technologies. In fact, the 3.5 million hectares of pulse crops grown in 2021 reduced greenhouse gas emissions from Canadian agriculture by approximately 3.6 million tonnes (CO2 eq).
Leveraging the Value Chain to Enable Sustainable Growth
Although the SAS is focused on developing policy and programs within the farm gate, it is also clear that achieving the goals of the SAS will require a broader, more inclusive view of Canadian agri-food value chains. Enabling market-based solutions will allow Canadian farmers and the agriculture sector to achieve more, while ensuring that approaches work for the entire value chain. In addition, the market will provide more financial resources to accelerate a shift to sustainable practices, resources which are limited within government. Pulse Canada, other agricultural organizations, and Canadian agricultural companies in Canada are well positioned to provide direction and guidance to AAFC on how farm-level solutions can be augmented and supported within value chain approaches.
The SAS must be developed in a way that works for the Canadian agri-food value chain, as the policies, goals, outcomes, targets, and metrics that are developed from this strategy will affect and be utilized by the entire agricultural sector. AAFC represents both agriculture and agri-food, and the SAS needs to reflect the needs of the whole sector.
Canadian Pulses as a Value Chain Solution
The Canadian pulse sector provides a prime example of a farm-based sustainability solution which is being leveraged by the value chain. There is increasing knowledge in the marketplace that pulses can provide substantial greenhouse gas benefits in food systems. The market is increasingly interested in how pulses can help achieve corporate sustainability goals, while also providing nutritional, health and functional benefits to both plant-based and animal-based food systems. Recent findings reveal that pulses incorporated into 6-year crop rotations across several provinces reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 21%. Peas incorporated into Western Canadian swine diets have been shown to reduce the carbon footprint of Canadian pork by 18%, while pasta reformulated with 30% lentil flour has a 30% lower carbon footprint. The responsible growth of the Canadian pulse industry will further decrease greenhouse gas emissions from Canadian agriculture, specifically from fertilizer. A scenario for the Canadian pulse industry of 40% growth by 2030 would further decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4 million tonnes (CO2 eq).
In recognition of the need to capitalize on the sustainability advantages of pulses and Canadian production systems, Pulse Canada has been focused on developing a Sustainability Strategy for the Canadian pulse industry. This work demonstrates how the goal of an increasingly sustainable and profitable agriculture sector in Canada can be achieved from a holistic, value chain perspective. This strategy work has identified several opportunities for the Canadian pulse sector, one of which being the interest of the food industry in reducing greenhouse gases through carbon insetting protocols.
The interest from the food industry in achieving targets around net-zero and the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) is a perfect example of how the market can be leveraged to help achieve sustainability goals for the Canadian agriculture sector. In particular, the food industry is exploring the utilization of carbon insetting to allow for the accounting of greenhouse gas reductions in their supply chains. On-farm practices like the adoption of 4R fertilizer management, and the use of pulses in crop rotations are good examples which will deliver carbon benefits to these supply chains.
Positioning the Sustainability of Canadian Agriculture
Canadian agriculture has made great progress on environmental sustainability and has a great story to tell. Canadian farmers have positioned themselves as environmental leaders through the adoption of technologies and practices which have increased efficiency and decreased environmental impact.
However, there is a gap in Canada’s capacity to tell our environmental story to Canadian consumers and the global marketplace. The work of the National Index for Agri-Food Performance has provided a great picture of Canada’s capacity and has identified key gaps in metrics and data for measuring environmental performance in the Canadian agricultural sector. As the marketplace and the Canadian public increases its interest in sustainable agriculture, it is imperative that the Government of Canada increase its investment into metric development and data. Canada already has strong researchers for the development of key metrics like greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity, however these researchers lack the resources to improve their modelling in a timely fashion. Increased investment in sustainability metrics for agriculture will be key to tracking the past and future progress of Canadian agriculture. In addition, investments into sustainability metric development in Canada will improve the capacity to incorporate regional differences into modelling, which is important for a country as large as Canada.
The capacity to capture data that is reflective of farming practices is an important gap to fill to measure and track progress for agri-environmental performance in Canada. Innovative solutions around data acquisition need to be created as progress has been stymied by barriers related to historical data. For example, the need to capture historical data for practices related to greenhouse gas emissions, like fertilizer management, back to 2005 or 1990 requires an innovative and open-minded approach.
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