Last fall, Canada launched consultations that will lead, later in 2023, to the adoption of the first Sustainable Agriculture Strategy (SAS), a plan with the stated goal of “improving environmental performance of the sector over the long term, supporting farmers’ livelihoods and enhancing the commercial vitality of the Canadian agricultural industry”.
Worryingly, however, the consultation document makes no mention of a reduction in the consumption of meat and dairy products, which is necessary to meet the global carbon budget. Now that hundreds of consultation participants have called for the strategy to align the agriculture sector with sustainable diets, will the upcoming consultation report set the record straight?
As the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reminded us, our eating habits must change substantially for Canada to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Scientists have repeatedly demonstrated that the environmental impact of meat and dairy products is significantly higher than that of plant-based foods. For example, 100 grams of beef protein emits an average of 50 kg of CO equivalent2which is 59 times higher than the same protein content in legumes, according to a study by Science of 2018.
Added to this is the fact that the production of foods of animal origin requires, for the same nutritional content, much greater quantities of water than their vegetable equivalents. Meat eating also requires a lot more land – land that could be freed up to restore biodiversity.
A necessity, say researchers
Researchers using comprehensive food systems models, such as Marco Springmann of the University of Oxford, demonstrated in 2018 that GHG emissions simply cannot stay within planetary boundaries unless we change our diets. in favor of a more plant-based diet.
In other words, even with the best green technologies available, it is mathematically impossible to stabilize the climate without reducing meat and dairy consumption. North America-wide, a 50% reduction by 2030 is needed.
This is also consistent with Canada’s Food Guide, which since 2019 has recommended choosing plant-based proteins more often.
Despite scientific data, the government’s approach in the agricultural sector is limited to acting on production techniques and technologies, without changing what types of food are produced. It must evolve.
An economic opportunity
As more than 70 countries aim for carbon neutrality by mid-century, including the world’s biggest emitters like China, the United States and the European Union, the adaptation of our agricultural sector to meet meeting the needs of tomorrow’s sustainable diets represents a huge economic opportunity for Canada.
Our agricultural sector is already very well positioned, being the world’s leading exporter of dry peas. According to the National Research Council of Canada, Canada’s plant-based protein sector is expected to contribute more than $4.5 billion to GDP and create more than 4,500 jobs by 2029.
Industry flagships like Roquette, which in 2021 opened the world’s largest pea protein factory in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, are already harnessing this potential, with support from the Protein Industries Cluster of Canada .
And some traditional producers are already riding the plant-protein wave, such as Maple Leaf Foods, which acquired two plant-based protein brands in recent years. Or Lactalis, which transformed its entire Sudbury dairy plant into vegetable milk production in 2022.
The transition of the food system can – and must – be a just transition for all. As the population faces record inflation, sustainable diets mean a more affordable grocery basket because unprocessed plant proteins like chickpeas or lentils are cheaper than meat.
Compensation and training
The new Sustainable Agriculture Strategy should also provide appropriate compensation and training for the 110,000 people working in the meat and dairy sectors who will suffer the consequences of a switch to more plant-based diets.
Just as the transition of the coal, oil and gas sectors must be accompanied by new opportunities, failing to adequately prepare our agricultural sector for the diets of tomorrow would be short-sighted management and poor economic planning.
Will the new strategy initiate an alignment of Canadian agriculture towards sustainable diets? The answer will tell us if the Liberal government really takes the fight against climate change seriously or if it prefers to ignore it.
* Co-signatories: François Delorme, economist and lecturer at the University of Sherbrooke; Damon Matthews, Professor and Concordia University Research Chair in Climatology and Sustainability; Nicholas Carter, Ecologist and Data Scientist, Plantbaseddata.org; Eleanor Carrara, co-founder of the Cities for Plant-Based Foods Movement