How Canadian Farms Are Changing

Jun 17, 2024

Canadian Farms See Major Gains in Eco-Stewardship

Buried in some data released in April, Statistics Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada had some positive things to say about Canadian farming and how it has become more sustainable in recent years.

In the Statistics Canada Census of Environment data portal, the facts and figures about farming showcased positive changes made in agriculture since the 1980s. As the agriculture industry is often portrayed negatively when it comes to sustainability, it is important for farmers and others to understand these changes.

A recent report from Statistics Canada indicates that Canadian agriculture has seen considerable strides in environmental stewardship, with a decrease in soil erosion and a shift in land usage patterns across the country's vast agroecosystems.

As of 2021, agroecosystems in Canada cover nearly 57 million hectares. The landscape is primarily divided into annual croplands and sown and semi-natural pastures, with a small percentage dedicated to perennial croplands.

Over the decades, these ecosystems' total area has reduced by about 3.9 million hectares. This shift reflects a decrease in annual croplands and semi-natural pastures, while sown pastures and forage areas have expanded.

One of the most significant environmental improvements is the decrease in the risk of soil erosion, which has declined in 86% of the ecoprovinces since 1986. What is an ecoprovince you ask? According to Wikipedia “An ecoprovince is a biogeographic unit smaller than an ecozone that contains one or more ecoregions.” The top 4 ecoprovinces are Central Grassland, Central Boreaal Plains, Parkland Prairies, and Great Lakes-St Lawrence Lowlands.

This positive change is crucial as soil is a vital component of agroecosystems, serving as the foundation for food production and ecosystem services.

Moreover, while the use of herbicides has increased to control weeds, it is noteworthy that the areas under such chemical interventions have also become more targeted, aiming to reduce impacts on non-target organisms and the surrounding environments.

Agroecosystems are not just about food production; they provide a multitude of services including climate regulation, water flow regulation, and soil retention.

In 2021 alone, these systems produced approximately 109 million tonnes of crops and 11 million tonnes of forage, underscoring their critical role in both the Canadian and global food supply chains.

This transformation towards more sustainable farming practices illustrates the commitment of Canadian farmers and agricultural policymakers to not only sustain but enhance the quality and health of the environment while continuing to feed a growing global population.

Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”