Farming | Ottawa and the provinces agree on a five-year plan

Ottawa and the provinces have agreed on the renewal of a five-year agricultural strategic plan, improved and redesigned in several respects to take into account the impact of climate change.

Following a federal-provincial meeting in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on Friday, Federal Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her provincial and territorial counterparts unveiled the broad outlines of the new Canadian Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture.

A sum of half a billion has been added to the Partnership, bringing it to 3.5 billion for the five years from 2023 to 2028. It should be noted that the first billion is entirely assumed by the federal government while the rest is cost-shared in proportions of 60% for the federal government and 40% for the provinces and territories.

Among the amounts added is an envelope of $250 million for the new Resilient Agricultural Landscapes Program, “a program that recognizes the ecological goods and services provided by the agricultural sector,” explained Ms.^me Bibeau. This program, like others included in the Partnership, “will play a role in recognizing the environmental practices of producers and will achieve a reduction of three to five megatonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. from the agricultural sector, she added.

Expected improvement from AgriStability

Agricultural producers, who are more and more often affected by episodes of extreme weather caused by climate change, will certainly be delighted by the favorable response to a long-standing request: Minister Bibeau has in fact announced an increase the AgriStability compensation rate, which increases from 70% to 80% as of 2023.

“This significant change represents up to $72 million per year and will have significant impacts on producers who are suffering significant losses,” said Ms.^me Bibeau. The AgriStability program is a federal program separate from the new Partnership concluded on Friday.

Since risk management is now one of the major components of an agricultural strategy, the ministers undertook to conduct a consultation to improve all the programs devoted to this issue.

“In order to encourage good agricultural practices that make our farms more resilient to climate change, we are going to review risk management programs and each province is committed to setting up a pilot program within the year that will follow the review,” explained the minister.

Major producers will also have to do their part, she said. “Producers with net AgriInvest eligible revenues over $1 million will be required to produce a risk analysis or environmental management plan by 2025.”

Fertilizer dispute

Several other topics were discussed during this conference, including the prevention of African swine fever and avian influenza, global food security, inter-provincial barriers, market access, the fragility of supply chains and the difficulties of recruitment, among others.

One subject is likely to remain contentious: GHG emissions related to the use of fertilizers. Provincial ministers maintain that it is essential that efforts to reduce emissions from fertilizers “do not impair Canada’s ability to contribute to food security in Canada and around the world, now or in the future.” In other words, it is clear that one is for virtue in reducing emissions, but not at the cost of returns, at least until other countries do the same.

However, they also raised the importance of protecting domestic and native bee populations and working alongside experts in the field to see to this protection.

Quebec “very satisfied”

At the end of the conference, the Quebec Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne, said he was “very satisfied with the meeting with my colleagues from the federal government and the other provinces”.

He welcomed the increase of half a billion in the envelope of the strategic framework. Mr. Lamontagne believes that federal efforts will align with those of Quebec in terms of sustainable agriculture. As is often the case for Quebec in matters of federal-provincial relations, he assures that “Quebec will use its own targets and accountability mechanisms to contribute to the collective results” of the Canadian plan.

He applauds the enhancement of the AgriStability program, which represents an increase in federal funds of nearly $4 million for Quebec.