Time to Take Back Our Farm Environmental Agenda

Jackie Fraser, Executive Director, AGCare

Back in 1992, farm leaders in Ontario did a remarkable thing. AGCare, the Christian Farmers' Federation of Ontario (CFFO), the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC), and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) came together and formed the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC). Through OFEC, farm leaders created "Our Farm Environmental Agenda" which laid the groundwork for the Environmental Farm Plan. Reading through the agenda now, I am proud of how forward thinking the authors were. The document states, "We are committed to a process which will encourage every farmer to conduct farming activities in a manner which respects the environment." The agenda goes on to highlight environmental concerns in modern agriculture from soil erosion to nutrient management, inputs, and wildlife habitat. It even outlines concerns related to greenhouse gasses. Remember, in I 992 global warming was not the household word it is today.

Of course the biggest deliverable of "Our Farm Environmental Agenda" is the Environmental Farm Plan and we all know what a success it has been. At a recent OFEC stakeholders meeting we learned that the uptake of the Environmental Farm Plan, which can be thought of as agriculture's environmental management system, is more successful than any individual industry's uptake of their own industry-specific environmental management systems (e.g., International Standards Organization (ISO)).

AGCare is embarking on an exciting project to document all of the great environmental work farmers have done since 1992 (and in some cases prior to 1992). We will attempt to document farmers' financial investments in on-farm environmental improvements, time committed to these improvements as well as environmental training, investments in research, and much, much more. We know the numbers will be impressive, and it's time to tell everyone else about "Our Farm Environmental Commitment."

Today we are experiencing an unprecedented deluge of environmental legislation. Most recently the Clean Water Act was proposed, looking quite different than expected. Add this to the list of nutrient management, municipal pesticide bylaws, changes to water-taking permits, the "Greenbelt", tree-cutting bylaws, and the list goes on. It's clear to see that agriculture is no longer driving its environmental agenda.

It's time to show leadership and take control again. Agriculture needs to come together and set out what our renewed environmental agenda should be.

If we don't do it, someone else will do it for us.