The Power of Soil: An Agenda for Change to Benefit Farmers and Climate Resilience

In collaboration with Equiterre, The Power of Soil: An Agenda for Change to Benefit Farmers and Resilience takes a closer look at how and why farmers adopt soil health practices, offers a comprehensive overview of Canada’s current agri-environmental policy and programming landscape, innovative policies from other jurisdictions, and provides recommendations for a significant shift in Canada’s agricultural and climate change policies and program.

Through this roadmap for change, farmers can help Canada meet its global climate change commitments and its economic goals for the agricultural sector, while helping to ensure long term viability and resilience through adaptation to climate change.

The report was produced through a highly collaborative process and with the support of expert advisory panels made up of members from key agricultural organizations and research institutions in Ontario, Quebec and across Canada. A draft set of recommendations were presented to a wide range of stakeholders in two workshops in January 2021. Feedback from these workshops has been incorporated into the final report.

The resulting recommendations are intended to support program-level interventions in the implementation of the revised federal climate plan, and the new Federal Provincial Territorial (FPT) agricultural policy framework, expected in 2023.

The recommendations are grouped under these themes:

• Prioritize Soil Health
• Enhance Soil Health Knowledge and Learning
• Incentivize Soil Health 
• Conserve Agricultural Land and Protected Areas

Through this roadmap for change, farmers can help Canada meet its global climate change commitments and its economic goals for the agricultural sector, while helping to ensure long term viability and resilience through adaptation to climate change.