By Jack Wilson
Local Journalism Initiative
Minister of Agriculture and Compton-Stanstead MP Marie-Claude Bibeau announced $16.2 million in funding for research into climate-friendly agriculture in Quebec at a Coaticook event July 10. The federal dollars will fund two “Living Labs,” which aim to include farmers in the research.
The first project will focus on five agricultural industries: dairy, beef, pork, sheep and field crops, examining practices such as crop rotation and agroforestry. The Union des producteurs agricoles, the Quebec farmers’ union, is backing the project. The second lab will zero in on the dairy industry, attempting to find ways to achieve carbon-neutral milk production.
Bibeau praised the project, calling Canada “nothing less than a global leader in sustainable agriculture.” “Our farmers are committed to meeting the challenge of feeding a growing world population in an increasingly unpredictable context with a climate crisis along with a war,” she said.
The federal government has committed the Canadian economy to net-zero emissions by 2050, Bibeau said. Dairy, grain and egg producers have also committed to that goal, she added. “We have sectors aspiring to net zero, other sectors that will increase production but reduce emissions without necessarily achieving a perfect zero. But globally, the economy must reach zero,” she said.
