A threat to farmers and the food we consume

Some might say that Ontario farmers are ready to tackle climate change.

It’s a misleading statement, because we are already tackling climate change.

Climate change is a real and looming threat, and left unchecked, it could destabilize our entire food system — devastating farms and the families that work them while driving up the price consumers will pay for food in the store. This is an issue near and dear to farmers. It has to be; the most important natural resource in farming is arable land. The very nature of farming depends on healthy soils, fresh air and clean sources of water.

Meanwhile, the impacts of climate change — changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, increased damage to soils — are likely to hit farms first and hardest. Farms from British Columbia to Northwestern Ontario endured an extremely damaging drought this past summer. This past fall saw extensive flooding in British Columbia, underscoring the importance of investing in waterflow and drainage management systems, protecting woodlots and wetlands and planting cover crops.

Farmers are and plan to be part of the solution. When urban Canadians talk about the need to protect the planet, we are in full agreement. We farm with generations in mind. We want to feed not only you, but we want our grandchildren to feed your grandchildren, and their grandchildren beyond them – and so on, and so on.

That is why it is important that we care for the land, water and air.

The stewardship of the land is a responsibility farmers take seriously.

Farming, by its nature, is a carbon sequestration tool. Plants capture carbon dioxide and store it in the soil. We can expand best farming practices to introduce more living plants on a farm while minimizing tillage, with ongoing research, data collection and incentivizing the widespread adoption of those practices.

Forests, wetlands and water courses are often found on farms. Tree planting, growing wind breaks and proper woodlot management are environmental practices farmers use to diversify natural habitats and improve our environment, air, water and soil conditions. This greater biodiversity enhances the entire rural landscape while capturing carbon, reducing soil erosion and protecting watersheds and wildlife habitats.

Ontario’s farmers also have a valuable opportunity to contribute to the growing bio-economy that is working to replace fossil fuels with those derived from renewable plant-based sources. But this will require further support to encourage innovation and develop the bioeconomy market.

We acknowledge that these measures are countered by other farming activities that do generate carbon emissions. The reality of farming in a cool climate like Canada is that livestock need heated barns in winter and grain drying requires intense energy use.

The rationale behind carbon pricing is that it drives behavioural change by encouraging people to find alternatives to carbon-based fuels. Because there are no viable energy alternatives, at this moment, to heat barns and dry grain, behaviours cannot be changed. Pricing the carbon emitted from these farm activities will not reduce the emissions they generate.

It will, however, drive up food prices and jeopardize the future of the family farm. Eventually, there is a limit in the price increase that can be passed on to consumers; it is a far scarier proposition to think that ever-rising costs will create a situation where Ontario farmers can’t compete, pushing them out of business and requiring Ontario to rely on food sources from other countries.

The challenge for government is to develop a balanced climate change policy for farms that recognizes the environmental benefits of farming without putting punitive measures in place that will make all of our food more expensive and possibly drive farmers out of the business of farming.

Nobody, farmers included, wants to see a spike in food prices. We are getting enough of that from the impacts of the COVID pandemic.

Farmers will continue to be part of the solution.

With a balanced plan that grows and enhances the environmental benefits that are already inherent in current farming practices in use across the province, we can make a difference for the province and the planet, together.