QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Greenhouse Gases and Agriculture
June 2, 2022
Welcome back to the Senate, Minister Bibeau. I am asking the following three brief questions on behalf of Senator Galvez, and I will ask them all at once.
First, minister, as you are aware, between 2019 and 2020, greenhouse gas emissions from Canada’s agriculture sector increased. When do you forecast that emissions from this important sector will start to decrease?
Second, it is understood that livestock production generates more emissions than the growing of plants of equivalent nutritional value. Does your government promote plant-based diets as being key to a sustainable agricultural system? If so, could you tell us what policies are in place to do so?
Finally, minister, how do government subsidies of crops for human consumption compare with those related to crops for livestock production?
Thank you.
The agricultural sector is one that contributes its share of GHG. We do have a strategy to reduce emissions from the agricultural sector. That is why we are investing so much to support our farmers to allow them, invite them and incentivize them to adopt better practices, like cover-cropping, rotational grazing and better management of fertilizer, for example. I’m talking about the On-Farm Climate Action Fund and clean-technology programming as well.
We are doing a lot in consultation with the sector. I am spending a lot of time consulting via Zoom and other platforms, but I’m also glad to be back in the field, travelling across the country to meet farmers and ranchers and having conversations with them. They are committed to doing their part. They understand; they get it. They are the first ones to be impacted by climate change, and they always want to do better.
We have dairy farmers and grain farmers who are both committed to zero emissions by 2050. It is encouraging to see their commitment to go in this direction, and we will be there to support them.
To respond to your second question, we have also invested significantly in the Protein Industries Supercluster. This is a sector that we strongly believe in. Last week, I was in Saskatchewan, visiting —
Madam Minister, we have to move to another senator.
