Andrew McClelland
The Advocate
Canada’s commissioner for the environment and sustainable development has accused Agriculture Canada of falling behind in meeting its goals for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
In an official report issued April 30, Jerry DeMarco, the commissioner appointed by the federal government to provide an independent analysis on its environmental and sustainable development issues, heavily criticized Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s climate policies and monitoring efforts.
In his “Agriculture and Climate Change Mitigation Report,” DeMarco put emphasis on the Agriculture Ministry’s lagging efforts in developing a plan to reduce emissions from nitrogen fertilizers and suggested the industry needed to shape up fast.
“Given the current climate crisis and limited results thus far, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will need to ensure that all its expected reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for 2030 take place in the six growing seasons that remain,” said DeMarco in a press release that accompanied the report.
“The department has so far achieved less than 2 per cent of its 2030 overall greenhouse gas reduction target,” the commissioner stated.
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay thanked DeMarco for the report and outlined what steps his ministry would take to meet climate goals in the future.
“There is no doubt we need to do more to help the agriculture sector reduce emissions, and quickly,” MacAulay said.
In his response to DeMarco’s criticisms, MacAulay outlined the steps his ministry has taken to ensure Canada’s agriculture industry contributes to the nation’s overall goals in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, citing the funding of 14 research labs across the country and the creation of two programs to help farmers adopt more sustainable farming practices.
“Since 2020, the Government of Canada has announced over $1.5 billion in funding to advance climate change mitigation in the sector,” MacAulay said, “including the Agricultural Clean Technology Program, the Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs Program and the On-Farm Climate Action Fund.”
The federal agriculture minister also pointed out both its “Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership” (Sustainable CAP), a series of programs and activities cost-shared between Ottawa and the provinces, and its “Sustainable Agriculture Strategy,” a long-term plan that it hopes will help bring together action on climate issues in agriculture.
Programs included in both are voluntary for producers. DeMarco noted that such funding programs were flooded with applicants and were delayed by a year in disbursing payments.
“The department’s delays in funding approvals resulted in recipients missing a growing season,” the commissioner wrote, “which limited the greenhouse gas reduction results achieved….”
In his report, DeMarco notes that agriculture accounts for 10 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have been increasing since 1990. Agriculture remains a major source of methane and nitrous oxide, which are potent greenhouse gases. Between 1991 and 2021, the sector’s emissions have risen by nearly 40 per cent, driven by increased crop production and fertilizer use.
Those figures are still below the greenhouse gases emitted by Canada’s oil and gas industry (28 per cent), transportation sector (22 per cent), buildings (13 per cent) and heavy industry (12 per cent), prompting MacAulay to defend the efforts the country’s farmers are already making in the fight against climate change. “Being on the front lines of climate change, they have felt the devastating effects first-hand, from droughts to wildfires to floods,” MacAulay said in a statement, referring to producers. “Canadian farmers work hard every day to produce the best products in the world and are already making significant efforts to be more sustainable.”