Question Period Note: ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE

Q1 – What is the Government of Canada doing to enhance the environmental resilience of the sector, including adapting to the impacts of climate change? Q2 – What is the Government of Canada doing to enhance sustainable water management in the agriculture and agri-food sector? Q3 – What is the Government of Canada doing to protect biodiversity in the agriculture and agri-food sector? Q4 - What is the Government of Canada doing to protect soil health?

R.1 - Through AAFC, the Government of Canada is supporting the sector in increasing its resiliency in the face of climate-related risks. Cost-shared programs between the federal and provincial/territorial governments under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership help to increase farmers’ awareness and management of on-farm environmental risks and support the adoption of beneficial management practices (BMPs) and technologies to reduce those risks, including through adaptation and resilience to climate change. R.2 - Cost-shared programs between the federal and provincial/territorial governments under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership are critical to protecting water resources and support the adoption of beneficial management practices (BMPs) and technologies, including those focused on protecting water resources and enhancing climate resiliency. AAFC also has a long history of researching, developing and promoting the sustainable management of water resources, including conducting and funding collaborative agricultural research and technology development, and providing timely data and analysis on agroclimatic conditions impacting Canada’s farmers and the agriculture sector through the Canadian Drought Monitor.
As part of the Strategic Plan for Science, AAFC’s vision for the future of research and development, increasing the resiliency of agro-ecosystems is one of four missions. This mission enables outcomes like enhanced and protected soil and water resources.
Budget 2022 announced an investment of $43.5 million over five years as well as $8.7 million in ongoing funding to ECCC to create a new Canada Water Agency, which was established in 2023. There was also the announcement of $19.6 million in 2022-2023 to ECCC to sustain the Freshwater Action Plan. Budget 2023 renews and expands the Freshwater Action Plan, which will support regionally specific measures to further protect Canada’s freshwater reserves across the country. The Plan will continue to improve water quality and respond to the impacts of climate change, including monitoring, assessment, and restoration work. The Canada Water Agency, established as a standalone agency in 2024, will lead the delivery of major elements of the Freshwater Action Plan. AAFC continues to work with the Canada Water Agency to identify opportunities to enhance the management of water resources on the agricultural landscape.
Major investments in fresh water in Canada announced in Budget 2023 include:
• $650M over ten years, starting in 2023-24, to support monitoring, assessment, and restoration work in the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, St. Lawrence River, Fraser River, Saint John River, Mackenzie River, and Lake Simcoe (note that this figure includes the $420M announced by former Prime Minister Trudeau for the Great Lakes).
• $22.6 million over three years, starting in 2023-24, to support better coordination of efforts to protect fresh water across Canada.
• $85.1 million over five years, starting in 2023-24, and $21 million ongoing thereafter to support the creation of a Canada Water Agency, which will be headquartered in Winnipeg. R.3 - Canadian food producers are responsible and innovative stewards of the land and are committed to further supporting and promoting sustainable food systems in Canada and abroad. Biodiversity is essential to producing food, feed, fuel and fibre, to maintaining other ecosystem services like soil fertility, water conservation, pollination and pest management, and to supporting the ability of species and ecosystems to adapt to changing conditions, including to climate change.
One of the four mission areas under the Strategic Plan for Science, which is AAFC’s vision for the future of research and development, is to increase the resiliency of agro-ecosystems. This mission enables outcomes, like enhanced biodiversity, to stimulate productivity and resilience, cementing biodiversity as a research priority for the department. Furthermore, AAFC has extensive biological collections, representing the wide genetic diversity of many important food crops and livestock species, where the answers to current and emerging climatic, biotic and abiotic challenges may be found.
Cost-shared programs between the federal and provincial/territorial governments under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership support the adoption of on-farm technologies and land management practices that can provide co-benefits for biodiversity, including shelterbelts, cover crops, conversion of marginal cropland to grass and treed areas, and restoration and improvement of wetlands and riparian areas.

Canada is a Party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) in Montréal in December 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The Framework includes 23 targets to 2030, several of which have direct links to agriculture. For example, KMGBF Target 10 aims to enhance biodiversity and sustainability in the agriculture and agri-food sector through sustainable use of biodiversity and the application of biodiversity friendly practices. Target 7 aims to reduce pollution to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity by reducing excess nutrient loss to the environment and reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half and working towards eliminating plastic pollution.

The Government of Canada released its 2030 Nature Strategy in June 2024, which outlined a path for Canadian governments, sectors, and citizens to implement and achieve the goals and targets of the KMGBF. Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy charts an ambitious path forward and references ongoing initiatives that can support the agriculture sector’s contribution to the KMGBF’s targets. It includes the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the Agriculture Climate Solutions’ Living Labs program and On-Farm Climate Action Fund, and AAFC’s Strategic Plan for Science.

AAFC supports and conducts science in a variety of areas that enhance sector adaptation and resiliency, including monitoring and improving the health of agricultural soils, developing drought-resilient crop varieties, managing water and biodiversity on the agricultural landscape, and providing producers with the tools to help them better adapt to climate change. AAFC’s Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs brings together farmers, scientists and other sector partners to co-develop, test, and monitor BMPs on working farms, including BMPs that enhance climate resiliency. In fact, under AAFC’s Strategic Plan for Science, mitigating and adapting to climate change and increasing the resiliency of agro-ecosystems are core research missions of the Department.
In June 2023, the Government of Canada launched Canada’s first National Adaptation Strategy – a whole-of-society approach to reducing climate risks and building climate-resilient communities developed through engagement with provinces, territories, Indigenous partners, and other key partners across Canada. The Strategy includes specific objectives and actions for the agriculture sector, and a framework for measuring progress at the national level. R.4 - Soil conservation and health are part of AAFC’s core priorities. They are built on a long history of conducting research to further our understanding and to transfer knowledge relating to soil and climate to producers.

AAFC scientists develop innovative practices that help the sector build resilience in soils, reduce erosion, increase soil organic matter, and soil carbon. These all work to help the agriculture sector offset Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – while improving crop productivity in the process. AAFC undertakes a number of activities in collaboration with provinces and territories and various industry stakeholders to support the adoption of beneficial management practices that improve soil health. These practices improve the productivity, efficiency, profitability and competitiveness of Canadian farms. AAFC is collaborating with the Soil Conservation Council of Canada and sector partners to develop a National Soil Health Strategy.

Canada is a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the sole legally binding international agreement linking the environment with the development and promotion of healthy soils. Our active participation in this space demonstrates a commitment to world action to slow land degradation and desertification and to mitigate the effects of drought. In addition, Canada is a member of the Global Soil Partnership, a forum established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to facilitate and contribute to the exchange of knowledge and technologies for the sustainable management of soil resources.

In June 2024, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released a new report titled “Critical Ground: Why Soil is Essential to Canada’s Economic, Environmental, Human, and Social Health.” The Government generally supports the broad, positive approach taken by the committee and endorses many of the recommendations.

The Department supports farmers in developing and implementing farming practices to tackle climate change and enhance on-farm resilience. AAFC collaborates with provinces and territories through five-year, federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) agricultural policy frameworks to support agriculture sector stakeholders in the responsible stewardship of Canada’s agricultural land and environment:
• Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) – a five-year (2023-28), $3.5-billion agreement, including $500 million in new funds. This includes delivery of the $250 million federal-provincial-territorial cost-shared Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program to help producers conserve and enhance the resiliency of agricultural landscapes.

Additional investments outside of Sustainable CAP to support the agriculture sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that also have the potential to produce environmental co-benefits to support climate adaptation, soil health, biodiversity, and water include:
• Agricultural Climate Solutions: On-Farm Climate Action Fund – a $200 million, 3-year fund (2021-2024), with an additional $470 million announced in Budget 2022 over six years (starting in 2022-23), to support farmers in adopting beneficial management practices in three areas: nitrogen management, cover cropping, and rotational grazing practices. Budget 2023 announced an additional $34.1 million over three years, starting in 2023-24, to support adoption of nitrogen management practices by Eastern Canadian farmers, that will help optimize the use and reduce the need for fertilizer.
• Agricultural Climate Solutions: Living Labs – a $185 million, 10-year program (2021-2031) to establish a strong, Canada-wide network of living labs, bringing together farmers, scientists and other sector partners to co-develop, test, and monitor BMPs on working farms to reduce Canada’s environmental footprint and enhance climate resiliency.
Higher-risk transformative science under AAFC’s Strategic Plan for Science will help ensure a sustainable, resilient, and profitable agriculture and agri-food sector by 2050. Mission-driven science will bring together multiple disciplines, including economics, social science, and natural science, from across the Department and other science organizations working towards a similar goal, including increasing the resiliency of agro-ecosystems.
The Missions are as follows:
- Mitigating and adapting to climate change
- Increasing the resiliency of agro-ecosystems
- Advancing the circular economy by developing value-added opportunities
- Accelerating the digital transformation of agriculture and agri-food
In June 2024, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released a new report titled “Critical Ground: Why Soil is Essential to Canada’s Economic, Environmental, Human, and Social Health”. It provides an overview of the critical role of soil in mitigating climate change, contributing to biodiversity and putting food on tables. The report makes 25 recommendations to the federal government to work with the Canadian agriculture sector, as well as municipal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments, to tackle soil degradation and preservation. The Government released a Response to the Senate report in November 2024, generally supporting the broad, positive approach taken by the committee and endorsing many of the recommendations.

• The Government recognizes the vital importance of a resilient agriculture and agri-food sector that is able to adapt to climate change, grow sustainably, and continue to feed Canada and a growing global population.

• We support and conduct science and on-farm programming to help the sector prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related risks like extreme weather. This includes developing more climate resilient crop varieties and on-farm technologies to improve water-use efficiency and supporting adoption of practices that improve soil health and biodiversity.

• The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership includes a commitment among federal, provincial, and territorial governments to tackle climate change and reduce GHG emissions, protect the environment, and support the sustainable growth of the sector.