Environmental resilience

In the next 10 years, over 40% of Canadian farms will change hands. With 97% of farms being family-owned and operated, this means a lot of challenging – but necessary – discussions between family members on what the future of the farm looks like. But when do you start these discussions? Where do you have these discussions? And how do you approach these discussions?

Host Crystal Mackay chats with Maggie Van Camp, farmer and founder of Farmers Bridge, and Patti Durand, Certified Family Enterprise Advisor, on farm succession planning. They talk about the challenges that arise during this process, the importance of doing this big task and tips on making your farm transition a success.

There are currently 122,000 vacant jobs in Canada’s agriculture sector. This number is only expected to grow due to an aging workforce where more people are expecting to retire, alongside fewer working people and fewer young people entering the industry. These vacancies are impacting farmers. We’re seeing people working unsustainably long hours, giving up on expansion plans and leaving the industry altogether. So how can we start closing this gap?

Host Crystal Mackay and Jennifer Wright, Executive Director of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), explore the extent of the human resources challenges facing the industry and what supports there are for farmers to navigate some of these obstacles.

While Canada’s carbon market scene is far behind those in Australia and Europe, it is developing into a new economic avenue for farmers, where getting compensated for climate-smart farming practices is a real possibility. However, there remains a lot of uncertainty around this emerging opportunity. What is it? How does it work? And can it be trusted?

Host Crystal Mackay chats with Marty Seymour, CEO of Carbon RX, about agriculture’s “pineapple on pizza” debate: the carbon market.

It is estimated that globally, 8 to 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions are a direct result of food waste. Canadians contribute to that global total, creating an estimated 50 million tonnes of food waste every year. Meanwhile, emissions from manure represent 20% of a farm’s carbon footprint. These two challenges may seem unrelated, but there is an emerging agricultural solution that can both reduce food waste and transform the emissions from food and animal waste into energy and fertilizer: anaerobic biodigesters.

Host Crystal Mackay chats with George Dick, owner of Dicklands Biogas, about how biodigesters work and what is needed for biodigesters to become a more feasible option for more farms across Canada.

Canadian farmers have been farming with people and the planet in mind for a long time. While previously known as best management practices, sustainability quickly became the word of choice when discussing farming practices that improve yield to feed a growing world and have limiting impacts on the planet and future generations. And now there is a new kid on the block: regenerative agriculture. How does sustainability and regenerative agriculture relate to one another? How has sustainability in agriculture evolved over time? What are the challenges in farming sustainably and what is needed to continue the increased adoption of sustainable practices across the country?

In this episode, host Crystal Mackay explores sustainability in agriculture with Tim Faveri, Vice President of Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations at Nutrien, and Chris Perry, farmer and President of CKP Farms Ltd.

Human life heavily depends on a thin layer of topsoil. It grows food, retains water and sequesters carbon. However, topsoil degradation is compromising the resilience of our soil against flooding, droughts and pests, as well as destabilizing our food security. Many farmers have played, and continue to play, an important role in maintaining and increasing the health of our soil. But the urgency for farmers to implement and document soil-smart practices is growing across the value chain and amongst the general public.

In this episode, host Crystal Mackay digs deep with Cedric MacLeod, farmer and the Executive Director of Canadian Forage and Grassland Association, and Tim Wray, cattle rancher at Wray Ranch. They talk about why soil health is so important, how farmers can farm with the soil in mind and the opportunity that stakeholders across the agri-food value chain have to support farmers in this work.

In today’s society, supply chains are built for competition — competing for supplies, suppliers, and market share. But over the past decade in the agri-food space, businesses that were once fierce competitors have been standing side-by-side to overcome the sector’s biggest challenges together. Driving down emissions in the agri-food system is one of those challenges.

Host Crystal Mackay sits down with Nick Betts, Managing Director at the Canadian Alliance for Net-zero Agri-food (CANZA), and Benjamin Eastman, Senior Farm Consultant at Co-operators, to talk about collaboration and its important role in Canada achieving a net-zero agri-food system.

With 60% of farmers being over 55 years of age, more than 40% of Canadian farms will pass the torch onto the next generation in the next 10 years. As this transition happens, young farmers will not only be stepping into a new role, but they will be experiencing opportunities and challenges that look different from previous generations.

Host Crystal McKay talks with two farmers of the next generation, Katie Keddy and Audrey Morneau, to discuss their experiences as their family farms transition. They share the current realities of farming, the challenges and opportunities they’re encountering, and their tips for other young farmers.