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Ontario-grown sustainability programs measure up: study

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario’s Environmental Farm Plan and Growing Your Farm Profits programs compare favourably to 10 other national and international sustainability programs, according to new research released Wednesday.

The study, done by Deloitte, was sponsored by a group of agricultural organizations developing a sustainability program for Ontario farmers. The Farm, Food & Beyond coalition’s mandate is to create a sustainability program that builds on the success of existing Ontario programs, says the group’s Feb. 3 press release.

The coalition members include: the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, the Presidents’ Council, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), Farm & Food Care Ontario, the Provision Coalition, and the Food Institute of the University of Guelph. Representatives from the provincial and federal agriculture departments participate as observers. The coalition released a report in the fall called ‘Our Commitment to Sustainability.’

The coalition’s Feb. 3 release says the content of the Environmental Farm Plan and Growing Your Farm Profits met or exceeded the other sustainability programs used in the comparison in 82 per cent of identified performance areas.

Harold Rudy, OSCIA executive officer for research and business development, says the analysis of the sustainability programs was divided into three areas: economic, social and environment. Under the environmental component, the Ontario program compared to the others was “probably deficient on the climate change discussion and there could have been some additional strengths in water efficiency.”

In some programs, there is a strong emphasis on the handling of solvents and cleaners  “and we need to strengthen that area” along with beefing up waste and air quality monitoring, he notes.

Soil health is also a big area, particularly “referring to the biological side of soil health,” he says. The OSCIA has soil health at the top of its research priority list; however, “it isn’t necessarily reflected in the current version of the Environmental Farm Plan.”

On the social side, the Growing Your Farm Profits program needs to be strengthened and enhanced in the areas of worker training and the monitoring of worker performance measures, Rudy says.

The economic and financial management side of Ontario’s program “excelled in just about every area” in the comparison with other sustainability programs, Rudy says.

About the study results, Rudy says “nothing is alarming. It can all be addressed in future revisions of those (Ontario) program documents.”

The next step in the project is for the coalition to hire a project manager who will begin discussions with all sectors in the supply chain (farmers, processors, retailers, food service companies, non-government agencies and consumer groups) to get their support and commitment.

Rudy says the person will be hired within the next two months.

The coalition’s long-term goal is to harmonize and consolidate sustainability program standards so farmers and manufacturers don’t have to deal with several manuals and programs “ to meet sustainability requirements,” he notes. The group is developing the sustainability program in response to retailers, manufacturers and food service companies wanting greater transparency and advanced recordkeeping of the environmental and social practices used by their suppliers. BF

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