Survey results: AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures
The vast majority of farmers have adopted sustainable agricultural practices in recent years, with good results—particularly in terms of yield. This is backed up by the findings of a recent survey conducted as part of AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures.
Sollio Agriculture, Coop Carbone, and our partner cooperatives began Phase 2 of AgroCarbone in fall 2023: the feasibility analysis. The goal is to develop business models that will help farmers reduce their GHG emissions and use their agricultural soils to sequester carbon, while making sure they are compensated fairly for the new practices involved.
Surveying farmers is a key step in this initiative, as it helps us understand:
· What motivates farmers to adopt GHG emission reduction and carbon sequestration practices
· What is preventing them from adopting these practices
· What has already been done here and works well (or doesn’t)
· Which practices farmers are ready to adopt starting in year one
Survey results
A whopping 193 farmers answered the survey between January 15 and March 1, 2024. Most of them were corn (81%) and soybean (77%) farmers, and more than half had meadows/pastures and raised livestock.
The survey results indicate that farmers have already adopted many sustainable agricultural practices:
· 97% of respondents had adopted at least one sustainable farming practice (cover cropping, reduced tillage, use of organic amendments, etc.) and 67% of respondents had adopted at least one agroforestry practice.
· Just over half of respondents had been doing one or more of the following for at least five years: reducing tillage (54%), diversifying crops (53%), cultivating meadows (52%), and using organic amendments (52%).
· About one third (34%) had been using cover crops for less than five years.
· About one third (34%) had been planting riparian buffers for more than five years.
· About one third (33%) said cover cropping would be the practice they would be most likely to introduce within the next year.
Among those who had already adopted sustainable farming practices, many had seen very positive results:
· Better soil aggregation and more earthworms (48%)
· Increased organic matter and water infiltration (41%)
· Soil decompaction (38%)
· Better yields (43%)
The survey results also show that there’s still plenty of room left to educate and support farmers on the path to reducing their GHG emissions and using their agricultural soils to sequester carbon. Most respondents said they felt they knew an average amount (41%) or little to nothing (36%) about it.
Fortunately, 68% of respondents were interested in learning more about AgroCarbone.
Collaborative workshop findings
Also as part of AgroCarbone Phase 2, a group of cooperative members, environmental agri‑advisors and network general managers attended a collaborative workshop in October 2023.
The workshop reaffirmed that of all the players in the agri‑food industry, farmers have the greatest capacity to reduce GHG emissions and sequester carbon.
Phase 1 findings
AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures has made good strides since its launch in spring 2023.
The preliminary analysis (Phase 1) shed light on the current situation in Québec’s grain sector in terms of GHG emissions and carbon sequestration.
Here are some of the findings:
· The agricultural industry could significantly contribute to meeting the government’s GHG reduction targets for 2030 and 2050.
· Multiple agri-food companies have publicly committed to reducing their emissions by 2030, and farmers will have a role to play.
· Québec’s agricultural soils have sequestration potential, but there is a lack of scientific evidence regarding the best ways to go about it.
· Outside of Canada, there are a number of programs that compensate farmers for adopting carbon sequestration practices.
There is still work to be done to make it easy and economically viable for Québec farmers to sequester carbon.
Join the AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures contact list to learn more and get involved in building the business models we need.