Climate-Friendly Agriculture

By Anna Segelken

This module at CubicFarms harvests about 9,500 heads of lettuce per month. (CBC News)

Agriculture currently generates 19-29% of total greenhouse gas emissions globally, making it one of the greatest-emitting sectors in the world. Some agricultural practices lead to habitat loss and deforestation. Fields are doused in herbicides and pesticides that can be toxic in large quantities, not just for animals, but also for humans. These chemicals pollute waterbodies through runoff, where water runs over farmland and into waterbodies, carrying some chemicals with it, and harm ecosystems through bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation occurs when animals ingest small amounts of chemicals, and then larger animals eat these animals (and the chemicals inside them), which causes the chemicals to build up inside certain species or ecosystems over time. Furthermore, “with a global population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, there’s a need to increase food production by 70% in the next 30 years to ensure enough food for everyone and avoid further food insecurity”, according to the UN. Evidently, this is a problem that needs to be solved. But how?

One solution is to look back on older methods of farming. Organic farms (farms that do not use synthetic herbicides or pesticides, and rotate fields), cover crops (crops that are grown to protect the soil, not be harvested) and fields with more than one type of crop, such as intercropping (growing multiple types of crops together to maximize resources) and companion planting (growing certain crops together that help each other thrive) These farming systems have been in use for decades and are methods that preserve soil health, prevent runoff, and decrease the need for pesticides.

Another option is to build indoor farms. This negates the need for pesticides and herbicides, and these farms are easily climate controlled, which is useful during heat waves and cold snaps. This allows them to have year-round operations. This method of farming uses less water than conventional farming methods, and the crop yield is much more reliable so it can help with food security issues as well.

Cell fabrication of meat is also a possible way forward. Cells are extracted from live animals, and then they are grown until there is enough volume for a full cut of meat. As this is still meat made from animal proteins, it is a great source of protein. This method of meat production reduces greenhouse gas emissions and antibiotic use, in addition to being far better for animal welfare.

There are many routes we can take to address climate change and, more specifically, the role agriculture plays in it. If this is going to be economy driven, then we need to keep researching and innovating, as new technology will be the answer. If this is going to be community-focused, with grass-roots organizations, then the emphasis should be on going back to the old ways of farming. Either way, we need the government to encourage these new innovations, and we need the public to embrace them.

 

Braich, Baneet. “Vertical Farming on the Rise in B.C. but Facing Challenges for Land, Say Advocates.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 25 Dec. 2021, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vertical-farming-on-the-rise-in-b-c-but-facing-challenges-for-land-say-advocates-1.6295505.  

“Climate-Smart Agriculture.” World Bank, World Bank Group, 5 Apr. 2021, www.worldbank.org/en/topic/climate-smart-agriculture.  

Dolgin, Elie. “Will Cell-Based Meat Ever Be a Dinner Staple?” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 9 Dec. 2020, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03448-1.  

“Environmental Impacts of Food Production.” Maple Ridge, City of Maple Ridge, www.mapleridge.ca/1776/Food-Production.  

Kacary, Hannah. “What Is Sustainable Agriculture?” ECO Canada-Sustainability, ECO Canada, 20 Oct. 2021, eco.ca/blog/what-is-sustainable-agriculture/.  

Ritchie, Hannah, et al. “Emissions by Sector.” Our World in Data, Global Change Data Lab, 11 May 2020, ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector.