The consequences of climate change and the rapid decline in the productivity of older farmland in the north have raised the risks of a lack of food for our global population and economic growth. Currently around 3% of Canada’s land area is devoted to agriculture. In all of Africa, the figure is a little over 2%.
Canada’s recent growth since federation had concentrated on large farming systems fuelled by large capital investment, but now these are under pressure. As a result of changes in our environment, our soils have lost their ability to absorb both water and nutrients. Before the farm crisis, Canada’s agriculture was the world’s second largest exporter of grain and the largest exporter of beef. With climate change projections, wheat production is expected to drop to 30% of 1993 levels by 2050 and beef production to about the same level. As a result, demand for other major crops including corn and canola will drive prices up and move into the food service industry.
Fifty years ago, there were only about 15,000 small farms but today there are over 600,000 farms with average sizes of 450,000 square metres of land. Around two-thirds of these small farmers were founded before 1984, and two-thirds are under 30 years old.
The challenge now is to ensure that as a country, we are prepared to address this shift and seek ways to support a recovery of small farms. This can only be done by investing in agriculture at all levels of government. However, when small farmers lose their farms, these communities lose the benefits of new farmers with new skills and expertise.
One of the early steps in addressing this problem is to invest in transportation infrastructure that can connect landlocked or sparsely populated regions of Canada with suitable food resources closer to major population centres. This will contribute to maintaining a healthy connection between our farms and our cities.
Today, companies like Ridley, Vermilion and Rye with offices in either Vancouver or Calgary have a significant agricultural presence, and we are only one generation away from small farms migrating to these cities. These communities will grow and prosper when they stay connected to their local farming community. But only when we create strong systems of support for local food can we ensure our cities will be able to feed themselves in the decades to come.
As Canada prepares to tackle the uncertainty of climate change, many people expect the government to come up with strong policies to address climate change. For small farmers, we need a consistent and well developed supply of technologies to grow food that will help us to respond to climate change. But we also need support from government to help support farmers to ensure a sustainable future in their communities.
Canada is at a unique opportunity to promote a shift to systems that will support a healthy, robust and dynamic agriculture industry that will help us to take up the challenges posed by climate change and future food systems.
Paul Gratton is the chief executive of Dairy Farmers of Canada
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