Farmers seeking support to help combat climate change

Agriculture accounts for approximately 10 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, and Katrina McQuail told CTV News farmers want to do their part to lower that number.

“I don’t know any farmers who are like, ‘I’m here to kill the soil, or make life hard for everything.’ farmers care, that’s why they do it. Farming is a caring industry,” said the organic farmer near Lucknow.

McQuail is part of Farmers for Climate Solutions, an organization with a five-year plan to lower Canadian farmer’s emissions by 14 per cent, but they’ll need $642-million a year from the government to do it.

“Farming at the best of times is a constant risk, so for farmers to make changes there needs to be support in addressing the risks,” she said.

Farmers for Climate Solutions isn’t alone. The Federal Government recently announced plans for Canadian farmers to curb their fertilizer emissions, specifically, synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, by 30 per cent over the next eight years.

At the moment, there is considerable pushback against the idea.

“There’s a saying out there in the country right now, it’s pretty hard to go green, if you’re farming in the red,” said Drew Spoelstra, vice-president with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA).

Fertilizer has helped Canadian farmers to record yields in the past few years but there is an acknowledgement farmers have a role to play in meeting Canada’s 2050 net zero climate target, but they’ll need public funds to help them get there.

“It is important we have the proper support from different levels of government to move those initiatives forward and ensure that farms continue to be productive and profitable going forward,” said Spoelstra.

Change isn’t easy for anyone but whether it’s on her 100 organic farm near Lucknow, or her neighbours 10,000 acre farm, McQuail believes farmers are a big part of the climate change solution, but it won’t come quickly enough without government dollars.

“The system is used to a certain level of input. When you shift or change that it takes a readjustment period. So what happens to farmers when they’ve made those shifts, and they’re seeing those losses,” said McQuail.