Seeing more benefit to working collaboratively than apart, a diverse group of partners from the agriculture industry and conservation organizations have created a plan toward a sustainable future for Canada’s agri-environmental landscape.
Imagine our country as a place where no new land is brought into agricultural production, environmental benefits are produced and farm production and profitability increase on an existing land base. This is the shared vision of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crop’s (CRSC) agro-ecosystem working group, along with industry partners, for the sustainability of Canadian agriculture in the next 10 years.
Announced today at the Sustainability at Sunrise breakfast during the GrowCanada Conference, this vision has Canadian farmers meeting the growing demand for increased production while conserving and restoring ecosystem health such as soil, water and wildlife, and managing climate risk for future generations.
“The CRSC is proud to have been part of developing this vision,” says Mark Brock, chair of the CRSC steering committee. “Sustainability is the common ground between environmental and agricultural interests and we thank all the founding organizations for their involvement; in particular, the leadership of Maria Trainer and Paul Thoroughgood. We applaud them for discovering things we can agree on, rather than focusing on those we cannot and inspiring our entire sector. To realize this vision, actions must be taken, and the CRSC looks forward to being part of the work that lies ahead.”
Using science as the cornerstone and collaboration to achieve their goals, agriculture and conservation leaders from Canadian Federation of Agriculture, CropLife Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Fertilizer Canada, Grain Growers of Canada, Soil Conservation Council of Canada, and the World Wildlife Fund Canada were involved in the development of this vision for a sustainable future.
Brought to life at a workshop led by the Soil Conservation Council of Canada, the CRSC will use this vision to work toward 12 outcomes by 2026. The first one starts with Canada being recognized as an innovative leader in the area of sustainable agriculture.
Sustainable agricultural practices recognize that agricultural and environmental values are intrinsically connected. To ensure current stewardship efforts are maintained, and to avoid environmental degradation, increased production must be achieved on the current area of land under production.
Source: Sustainablecrops