These two farming methods can feed the planet and help the environment — but they need to get along

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The planet’s farmers are struggling. Extreme heat, record droughts, and massive floods show the challenges from climate change piling up. There is also an elephant in the room; top-tier journal Nature: Food just estimated that a third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the farming sector. This isn’t a surprise; Nine years ago, a similar article also estimated this number at one third. Almost a decade has passed, little has changed.

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Despite consensus on the seriousness of the situation, there is only disagreement around solutions. On one side is the idea that small-scale farming, seasonal production, and few or no chemical inputs equal a sustainable farming system. Others point out that since intensive greenhouses, vertical farms and food science can produce more food with less impact, we should embrace a “high-technology” approach. As this debate rages, experts and policy makers become polarized, stalling progress. We fiddle while the fields burn.

The truth will not please the purists. Alone, neither small-scale nor high tech can solve agriculture’s part in the climate crisis. But working together, sustainable food systems are possible.

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Alone, neither small-scale nor high tech can solve agriculture’s part in the climate crisis

Members of the small-scale farming community often promote “regenerative” agriculture, an approach to farming that reverses climate change by building up soil-bound organic matter. This is important because organic matter absorbs carbon dioxide, mitigating climate change. In addition, organic matter in the soil acts like a sponge, absorbing water when it is abundant and storing moisture for when it is scarce. Organic matter provides a habitat for beneficial microbes. Fields rich with organic matter do better during droughts and need less fertilizers. Industrial farming is seen as the antithesis of regenerative farming because it requires a lot of chemical inputs and relies on ploughing and tilling that break down organic matter, all the while producing a very limited number of crops (usually corn, soy, canola, and wheat in Canada). In contrast, regenerative agriculture uses complex crop rotations, keeps the soil relatively undisturbed, and uses cover crops to prevent erosion.

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Today’s regenerative farming management systems use modern tools to enact practices that were common a hundred years ago and are finding their way back into the mainstream once again. Small-scale farmers and large agri-food corporations alike are adopting regenerative agriculture and wherever there are fields tilled by tractors there can be immense benefit to adopting such approaches to improve soil health. Regenerative agriculture’s proponents are onto something. However, it is not a complete solution. For one thing, most regenerative agricultural systems would see livestock moved out of intensive operations and into lower-density pasture-based systems. If this shift happens, livestock products may become more expensive as we will likely produce less animal protein per acre.

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Those in favour of “high-technology” argue we should adopt innovations including vertical farms where a huge amount of food is produced in buildings that occupy a tiny amount of land. Vertical farms use artificial lighting and carefully designed growth media to produce year-round fruits and veggies for local consumers. Usually, these facilities are located within or next to cities where the producers ship fresh. While Canada has a longstanding, financially viable greenhouse industry that already produces tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers year-round, the newest generation of technology makes lettuce, microgreens and even strawberries or blueberries possible. Progress is so rapid that it is plausible to imagine even a country like Canada becoming food secure for these crops within a handful of years, despite our winters.

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Like adopting regenerative farming, technologies such as vertical farming will pay massive sustainability dividends. Our country depends on importing billions of dollars of fresh fruits and vegetables that come from industrial farms in California. These farms not only cause serious water pollution as pesticides run off fields but are also vulnerable to droughts that threaten the long-term supply of our imports. Done properly, a vibrant vertical farming industry in Canada could reduce our dependency on precarious and highly polluting imports while simultaneously creating new jobs for Canadians in the innovation economy.

Meanwhile, producing non-animal protein could create another big windfall. These “alternative” proteins include plant-based products that may come from leguminous crops (such as peas or soybeans) all the way to more space-age sounding cellular agriculture that involves growing proteins in large tanks. This is an area where Canada should excel. Our grains and pulses can be converted directly into protein-rich ingredients thus fuelling the explosion of alternative protein products that are already arriving on grocery store shelves. And if governments are smart, they will encourage agri-tech entrepreneurs who are working to brew proteins in bioreactors to set up shop in urban Canada. Not only will this help lower our carbon footprint, it will also make up some of the deficit if animal production shifts towards a more regenerative model.

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Canada cannot afford to choose sides in a false either-or debate. We must embrace both regenerative and high technology. Regenerative agriculture provides a framework to transform land-based agriculture into a key strategy for protecting the environment. Vertical farming and other agricultural technology solutions are ideally suited to producing healthy foods year-round within or adjacent to urban areas.

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Just like an investment banker would recommend a diversified investment strategy to protect a client’s retirement fund, so too should food systems planners embrace a portfolio of mutually supporting strategies. Only by adopting diverse approaches will we be able to address our immense environmental challenges, while also positioning the Canadian agri-food industry to be an engine of sustainable economic growth. But first, the two sides need to learn to talk with each other.

Evan Fraser is the Director of Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph; Lenore Newman is the Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley.

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