Rod MacRae

Farm-Scale Agronomic and Economic Conversion from Conventional to Sustainable Agriculture

Publisher Summary Conversion process has three components—including increased efficiency, substitution, and redesign. This chapter focuses on research that addresses conversion to the early stages of redesign, emphasizing methods that are relatively easy to implement, and that minimize financial risk. Many farmers experience a major shift in their values, and place even greater emphasis on their role as guardians of human health, through the provision of essential nutrients to consumers, and of the health of the rural community and environment. Another common change is that farmers become more aware of the “organismal” nature of the farm, which functions well when all its components are present and essential biological processes are supported through the careful management of events in time and space. The conversion process usually takes from three to six years. Because of the uniqueness of each situation and the changing nature of environments, there can be no reliable formulas for successful transition. The chapter discusses the research results concerning some critical aspects of any conversion plan.

Food Citizenship and Community Food Security: Lessons from Toronto, Canada

ABSTRACT The Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) was created in 1990 as a vehicle for “food citizenship.” Its creators challenged the assumptions that hunger was mainly a problem of income and that the food system was nourishing all Canadians adequately. Working from a vision of food security based on both social justice and environmental sustainability, the TFPC was designed to be multi-sectoral and cross-jurisdictional, and to support project innovation and policy advocacy. The paper develops the concept of “food citizenship,” emphasizing the need to move beyond food as a commodity and people as consumers. Critiques of corporate control and a loss of food skills, or “de-skilling,” within the public, and the limits of anti-hunger advocacy, or charity for achieving food security are offered.

Agricultural Science and Sustainable Agriculture: a Review of the Existing Scientific Barriers to Sustainable Food Production and Potential Solutions

ABSTRACT Traditional approaches to agricultural science present a number of barriers to increasing our understanding of sustainable agriculture. Logical positivist and reductionist methods limit the information that can be obtained from complex biological systems, and institutional forces help to prevent scientists from exploring comprehensive and new directions that do not fit the predominant paradigms. A diverse range of political and institutional strategies for supporting research in sustainable agriculture is proposed.

Strategies to overcome barriers to the development of sustainable agriculture in canada: The role of agribusiness

Strategies to involve agribusiness in the development of sustainable agricultural systems have been limited by the lack of a comprehensive conceptual framework for identifying the most critical supportive policies, programs and regulations. In this paper, we propose an efficiency/substitution/redesign framework to categorize strategies for modifying agribusiness practices. This framework is then used to identify a diverse range of short, medium, and long-term strategies to be pursued by governments, community groups, academics and agribusiness to support the transition. Strategies discussed include corporate greening, ethical investment, changing the legal status of the corporaton, new business forms and the development of ecological economics.

Policies, programs, and regulations to support the transition to sustainable agriculture in Canada

The development of political strategies in Canada to support the transition from conventional to sustainable agriculture has been limited by the absence of a comprehensive conceptual framework for identifying the most critical policies, programs, and regulations. In this paper, we propose a framework that uses an efficiency/substitution/redesign spectrum to categorize both sustainable fanning systems and government activities. The framework is then used to identify a diverse range of short, medium, and longterm strategies to be pursued by governments in Canada to support the transition. Strategies discussed include research, diffusion, and training; market development; and safety net programs and tax provisions. Finally, the implications and implementation of the redesign concept for food production, processing, and distribution are outlined.

Organic farming in Canada

Abstract Although interest in organic farming in Canada has been growing, many obstracles to its development remain. The supply of produce is low and distribution systems are undeveloped. Consumer demand, however, appears to be strong, particularly in urban areas. The Federal Government and some provincial governments are beginning to examine how their policies and programs impede the transition to sustainable agriculture. Some programs dealing with transition, market development and certification have been developed to help facilitate the evolution of the organic sector. Also, some training programs in organic farming are now available, and research and development projects have started recently in several universities. A much more comprehensive package of institutional supports, however, will be required for these systems to develop in an orderly fashion and to realize their full potential.

Not just what, but how: Creating agricultural sustainability and food security by changing Canada's agricultural policy making process

Agriculture has been enormously productive in recent decades. The main problem is that fragmentation of issues, knowledge, and responsibilities has hidden the costs associated with this success. These are mainly environmental, social, and health costs, which have been assigned to other ministries, with their own histories unconnected to agriculture. Now that agricultural policy has achieved its success, its costs are becoming apparent. The current system is preoccupied with traditional views of competitiveness and efficiency. Policies, programs, and regulations are organized to support specific commodities, not farming and food systems. Responsibilities are extremely fragmented and frequently uncoordinated. In this environment, the focus on nourishment, food security, and environmental sustainability is subordinated to economic issues.The future lies in reorienting agricultural policy away from maximum production and towards sustainability. We propose a major transformation of the policy making apparatus in order to shift the focus of the system towards nourishment, food security, and sustainability. A new policy making system must be built on the themes of: integrated responsibilities and activities; emphasis on macro-policy; transdisciplinary policy development; proximity of policy makers to the diverse groups affected by problems needing resolution; food systems policy.The design principles for such a new system are taken from the theory of food security and ecology. Using these principles, we design a new provincial department of food and food security, and test this design with two case studies.

A Joined-Up Food Policy for Canada

Food, like air and water, is a biological requirement for life, but food policy has not been designed to reflect that reality. As with many industrialized countries, Canada has never had a coherent food policy that joins up the relevant domains, including agriculture, health, and social and economic development. Presented here is a set of principles, values, and goals that would be consistent with a joined-up approach, with a broad but comprehensive accounting of the policy instruments, structures, and governance models that need changing. Because of numerous obstacles, much of what is proposed here will have to be implemented from within existing policy and legislative architecture.

Improving Energy Efficiency and GHG Mitigation Potentials in Canadian Organic Farming Systems

Organic farming systems demonstrate greater energy efficiency and reduced green house gas (GHG) emissions per land unit and unit of production compared with conventional operations, usually attributable to the absence of synthetic fertilizers, particularly nitrogen, and synthetic pesticides. However, results suggest that the efficiency of organic systems can improve with research on optimizing yields/inputs, as comparisons of efficiency/output are not as robustly positive as those of efficiency/area. Organic systems also appear to have greater carbon sequestration potential. Organic systems can be significantly improved, pursuing both farm-level and sector-wide strategies. The specific conditions of organic farming, relative to conventional production, limit the number of currently promoted strategies that can fit into organic operations. Priority areas for future research to improve energy efficiency and GHG mitigation potential of organic systems are identified, including how energy crop production might be adapted to organic systems.

Effects of Green Manuring in Rotation with Corn on the Physical Properties of Two Quebec Soils

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine whether green manure used either in rotation or intercropped with corn could increase soil organic-matter levels and improve soil physical conditions. Eight treatments were applied for a 3-year period to a Bearbrook clay and a Franklin gravelly loamy sand in a rotation experiment. Aggregate-size distribution, bulk density, moisture retention, and water flow were measured for each soil. Green manures tended to increase organic-matter levels on the Bearbrook site over the three years of the experiment, although the increase was not statistically significant. On the Franklin site, no increase in organic-matter levels due to treatment was noted. Incorporating red clover into the Bearbrook soil improved dry-aggregate distribution and reduced bulk density but did not increase the stability of aggregates in water. Infiltration did not improve in response to green manuring. Incorporating common vetch or buckwheat into the Franklin soil did not affect any physica...