News > Day Three > Putting value on good production practices
Is there a way for Canadian farmers to capture value from good environmental stewardship? That's a Big Picture question some 40 to 50 Canadian ag industry players will be meeting to discuss in April as they look at the potential of Environmental Stewardship in the Global Marketplace.

Leduc consultant Janette McDonald is co-ordinating discussions among ag industry players on ways farmers can capture value from their stewardship activities. -- Lee Hart photo

It's still a very preliminary discussion, says Janette McDonald, a consultant from Leduc, Alta. who has long been involved with the agriculture industry.

McDonald, who provided an update on the project at the 2010 Farm Tech conference in Edmonton this week, says the April meeting will bring together commodity groups, food companies, lenders, ag industry suppliers and conservation groups, simply to see if there is a concept worth talking about.

"In the very simplest form, we have all these primary producers in Western Canada who are doing this tremendous job of looking after the land and the natural resources," says McDonald. "Just the progress that has been made in soil conservation in the last 25 years is amazing.

"On the other hand, we have consumers, society in general, food corporations placing more value on environmental management, sustainability, proper production practices. So if that has value to the end-user, is there a way to transfer some of that value back to the primary producer? That's the essence of what this project is about."

McDonald, who has been involved with the project for the past two years, in Phase 1 interviewed farmers across Canada about their views on environmental stewardship and sustainability. "What indicators define a sustainable managed grain farm in your area?" was one of the questions.

In Phase 2 she talked to a number of companies, commodity groups and conservation associations about how they value environmental stewardship, and what opportunities they saw for the Canadian agriculture industry.

Those groups included Weston/Loblaws, the Canadian Canola Council, grain handler Richardson International, Syngenta Crop Protection, McCain Foods and Seed Hawk, to name a few.

Phase 3 will be a meeting in April to bring many of these companies and other interest groups together to discuss a few basic questions. For example, is the Canadian ag industry interested and capable of responding to this opportunity? Can it be done within an organization that exists? Do we need to create a new organization? Can we bring existing programs together and improve or expand their work?

"The first step is to have an open dialogue with all the industry players to see if there is something worth talking about, a concept worth pursuing," says McDonald. "And if there is, then how do we go about it? Where do we begin?"

-- Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary.