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The horticulture sector is a vital component of Canadian agriculture, accounting for 25% of total crop receipts and 14% of total farm cash receipts¹. As Canada works towards its 2030 Emission Reduction Plan and commits to net-zero emissions by 2050, establishing a baseline for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and assessing other environmental impacts – such as water, land and energy use – is essential for the horticulture industry.
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The Opportunity
The Canadian federal government has outlined emission reduction pathways to achieve agricultural GHG mitigation goals. These include reducing fertilizer-related emissions, increasing agricultural carbon sequestration, and cutting methane and CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use. However, there is a significant gap in research within the horticulture sector concerning baseline GHG emissions, life cycle assessments, and sustainability roadmaps. As a key sub-sector of Canadian agriculture, there is an urgent need to evaluate and enhance the environmental sustainability of horticulture. This is the gap Vineland is capable of filling.
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The Goal
Our overarching goal is to enhance the sustainability and environmental stewardship of the Canadian horticulture sector. By conducting life cycle assessments of horticultural produce, identifying key environmental impact areas, benchmarking performance and evaluating waste management practices, we aim to drive innovations and improvements to foster a more sustainable and economically viable horticulture system.
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The Objectives
- Conduct Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of selected high value horticulture produce to establish the baseline environmental impacts.
- Identify the processes contributing most significantly to environmental issues like greenhouse gas emissions, water use, energy use and soil degradation. Additionally, assist farmers and stakeholders to establish benchmarks against which future improvements can be measured.
- Compare the productivity of farms growing homogenous produce by estimating their environmental footprints, identifying environmentally efficient farms², and indicating the practices that make these farms efficient.
- Study the environmental footprint of organic and inorganic horticultural waste from farms and food loss and waste at various stages of the horticulture value chain.
- Explore the feasibility of innovative ways to transform agricultural waste into higher-value products or processes, ultimately reducing food waste, minimizing environmental impact, and creating economic opportunities.
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- Statistics Canada (2024). Table 32-10-0045-01 Farm cash receipts, annual (x 1,000).
- Environmentally efficient farms are the farms that have lower environmental footprints in comparison to other farms with similar inputs and outputs.