Green Party's Election Priorities Include Shifting Ag Program Dollars

Sep 09, 2021

If elected on September 20th, the Green Party of Canada says it would restructure the next Ag Policy Framework to shift program dollars from supporting corporate-controlled industrial agriculture to supporting agriculture that is based on ecological and animal welfare principles.

This would include organic and regenerative practices, permaculture, localized food systems, higher welfare farming systems and short value chains.

Dr. Maria Rodriguez is the Green Party's agriculture critic.

"We want to shift program dollars. We know that the federal government has realized, for example, that we need to farm in ways that sequester more carbon in the soil, prevent the decline of organic matter in the soil," she said.

According to the party's agriculture platform, the Green Party would also:

- Recognize and act on the enormous potential of carbon sequestration in soil. Implement policies and programs that provide incentives for sustainably increasing organic matter (carbon capture) in the soil through regenerative practices while ensuring that these incentives are equitable, inclusive, and do not disadvantage small farmers.

- Restructure business risk management programs to make them more equitable, inclusive, and responsive in helping farmers cope with climate risk.

- Reallocate research and development priorities, as well as investments in infrastructure to further strengthen support for local and regional value chains by the National Food Policy.

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Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.