Andrew McClelland
The Advocate
The Union des producteurs agricoles has voiced its concerns about how the provincial government will implement its “Plan Nature 2030” — Quebec’s far-reaching consultation and planning project that will determine how it will preserve biodiversity and protect 30 per cent of its terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems by the beginning of the next decade.
The producers’ union wants to make sure that agricultural and forestry producers are involved in the development and implementation of that plan. And chief among its concerns are protecting the agricultural zone and ensuring that environmental regulations work in tandem with ag production.
“The protection of biodiversity through the conservation of 30 per cent of Quebec territory by 2030 — the Quebec government’s Plan Nature 2030 — must not be done to the detriment of agricultural activities,” said UPA president Martin Caron.
The UPA also wants there to be consistency between federal and provincial strategic plans that promote biodiversity and also between the different plans put in place by the government of Quebec. That includes Quebec’s Sustainable Agriculture Plan and Ottawa’s Agricultural Climate Solutions Program.
Farms already doing their part
The union listed its demands in a consultation document sent out to UPA members in October. Those included that “the publication of the Plan Nature 2030 be made once the government guidelines for agricultural protection have been established,” while also noting that “practices beneficial for biodiversity are already in place on farms,” such as the use of agricultural landscaping, windbreak hedges and cover crops.
The UPA is also concerned that the Plan Nature could lead to much agricultural land in the green zone being lost should it be re-zoned as conservation areas. That, says Caron, could lead to further sacrifices made by the agriculture industry in the name of sustainable ag development and biodiversity protection.
“The government of Quebec must clearly reaffirm that all agricultural areas are important and suitable for agricultural and forestry activities, regardless of their classification,” said Caron, noting that since 1998, Quebec’s agricultural zone has been losing the equivalent of 12 football fields of arable land per day due to areas being classified as “non-agricultural” territories for everything from the drainage of municipal lands and right-of-way usage.
Zero net loss of farmland
“(Quebec) must also curb urban sprawl and the growing use of the ‘non-agricultural usage’ legislation, while introducing the principle of ‘zero net loss’ in green zones,” Caron said, adding: “That is to say no new loss of agricultural or forestry area.”
The UPA’s demands include that there be “zero net loss” in the green zone, requesting instead that the implementation of the Plan Nature 2030 “respect the principle of zero net loss for the agricultural zone and defend the agricultural zone from conversion into a conservation zone.”
The CAQ government announced the creation of the Plan Nature in December of last year, following the signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at the end of the 15th conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (aka, the COP-15), held in Montreal in 2022.
The plan has a budget of $650 million to be used over seven years to protect and restore biodiversity, encourage sustainable practices, act on factors of biodiversity loss and collaborate with Indigenous communities and civil society to conserve biodiversity.
That collaboration has recently taken the form of an extensive series of public meetings conducted throughout October and November by the Regroupement national des conseils régionaux de l’environnement du Québec (the National Network of Regional Environmental Councils of Quebec or RNCREQ).
Financial support for farmers needed
UPA representatives have been following and participating in the consultations, citing that it wants new investments for research to find innovative solutions to increase agricultural productivity while improving environmental quality. It also asks for financial support for
agricultural and forestry producers implementing practices beneficial to biodiversity, along with funds for technical support, training and awareness.
Described as the largest investment in land protection and biodiversity in the history of Quebec, the Plan Nature 2023 should be launched at the beginning of 2024.