~ freelance journalist

Pulse Canada has come up with a handy tool to demonstrate farmers are looking after the environment as well as producing food.

While the Field to Market Sustainability Report was written with farmers in Western Canada in mind, Denis Tremorin of Pulse Canada says its technique for assessing farming practices can be applied to crop growers in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Field to Market was developed by the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, a coalition of U.S. farm, agribusiness, academia, and food industry groups. The scientific data collected through the process can supply consumers with credible scientific information about the sustainability of modern agriculture.

Last January, Pulse Canada, the Canadian Flax Council, the Canadian Canola Growers Association, the Canadian Wheat Board, Ducks Unlimited Canada and General Mills started to replicate Field to Market sustainability metrics for pea, lentil, spring wheat, winter wheat, durum wheat, oat, canola and flax production in Western Canada.

The last two decades “show improvements in land use, soil loss, energy use and climate impact,” the Pulse Canada report says. “The improvements are largely driven by a combination of yield improvements, reduced tillage, improved crop rotations and improved nutrient management which has occurred from 1986 to 2006.”

An important conclusion from the study is that on per hectare basis, modern agriculture has less impact per hectare than 20 years ago, Tremorin says. A lot of the Canadian data comes from Agriculture Canada and Statistics Canada and could easily be applied to eastern corn, soybean and wheat crops.

Pulse President Gordon Bacon says, “This report highlights some of the great accomplishments of Canadian agriculture in using technology and innovation to make a measurable difference in improving the nutritional and environmental well-being of Canadians and people around the world.”

The improvements shown in every sustainability indicator are largely driven by the broad adoption of reduced tillage, crop rotation management, improved nutrient management and variety development, which together have resulted in improved yield performance and a softened environmental footprint.

“Farms produce much more than food, fuel and fibre,” says Paul Thoroughgood of Ducks Unlimited Canada. “Decisions made when producing crops influence water quantity and quality, habitat availability for wildlife and other ecological values Canadians often take for granted. Increasing productivity on land currently under production is one way the agricultural industry can reduce the pressure to convert what's left of the rapidly dwindling habitat to cropland.”

Western farm groups have taken the initiative. Eastern organizations should consider following suit.