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The Peace River Environmental Society is very
interested in ensuring that sustainable agricultural practices are
used in producing food. Food safety, clean air, clean water,
minimized pesticide use, biodiversity, peak oil, and climate change
are all extremely important components of a healthy agricultural
system. We are in agreement with the direction that The Canadian
Environmental Network has taken in assuring that the environment
will be protected and that sustainable agricultural practices are
encouraged at all levels.
Denis Sauvageau
You can view the full document here;
http://www.cen-rce.org/eng/projects/2006conference/Green%20Paper%20final%20version%20feb%202007%20-%20e.pdf
RCEN Green Paper on Agriculture and the Environment
Executive Summary
February 2007
Even the most sustainable forms of agriculture have an impact on the
environment: by
favouring some species – the crop plants and animals – over others,
the farmer changes
the ecosystem within which agriculture takes place. A natural
ecosystem becomes an
agro-ecosystem. That does not mean that agriculture cannot be
environmentally
sustainable. Agro-ecosystems can be designed in such a way as to
offer habitat to a wide
range of wild species and maintain a high level of biodiversity and
ecosystem function.
However, in some parts of Canada the conversion of nearly all land
to human land uses,
including agriculture, has led to the near extinction of native
ecosystems. Agriculture is
also depleting and polluting natural resources: soil, water, air and
biodiversity. More
sustainable agricultural systems, e.g. organic farming, exist and
are implemented by a
minority of farmers. Society must support farmers in a move towards
a more sustainable
Canadian agriculture, either by paying fair prices for products that
cover the true cost of
sustainable production, or by a system of direct payments for
environmental goods and
services.
Recommendations
• All government policy and policy instruments must include
amongst their
objectives that of moving agriculture further towards environmental
sustainability.
• Every ecoregion in the country in which agriculture takes place
needs an
agri-environmental management plan.
• Agro-ecosystems must be designed to naturally support healthy and
thriving
populations of crop plants and animals without the use of pesticides
or
verterinary drugs.
• Funding for the National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative (NAESI)
should be extended.
• The National Agri-Environmental Health Analysis and Reporting
Program
(NAHARP) should be expanded.
• Research is needed on the development of crops that are better
adapted to
local growing conditions, including the agricultural potential of
native plants.
• All income support programs for agriculture should in some way be
tied to
environmental performance of the farm. Direct payments for
environmental
goods and services should be considered where needed.
• Greater emphasis is needed on local and regional agricultural
production for
local consumption. |
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