Agriculture

Several times last year, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau found herself stomping through fields talking to farmers dealing with unprecedented floods, drought and hurricanes. The disasters were an "eye-opener" for many, hinting at a future where the climate crisis will make similar disasters more common — and worse. 

The Arnprior Solar Project is one of the largest solar electricity sites in Canada, and for the past five years, it has also doubled as a summer home for hundreds of sheep.

Intensive farming is creating new super weeds that are nearly impossible to kill with herbicides. Already infamous for their impact on everything from water quality to biodiversity, the intensive approach to agriculture is making it even harder for farmers to protect their crops — and bottom lines — from tsunamis of harmful weeds, a new study suggests.

A new item is on the menu for the thousands of people gathering this month at COP27, the United Nations' annual climate conference: food. 

The struggle to keep farmland off limits for developers is a nationwide problem. Unlike the U.S. and many other countries, Canada doesn't have a national plan to protect farmland.

Climate crisis report says "we are not winning in any sector" as experts call for urgent action on fossil fuels.

When Alberta MLA Glenn van Dijken tabled a bill last April that would prevent institutional investors from buying up farmland in the province, he knew the move would raise eyebrows. A staunch member of the United Conservative Party and self-proclaimed "free market guy," he was typically loath to regulate a booming industry. 

Methane emitted from burps and manure from about 75,000 cows in a massive Brooks, Alta., feedlot is the 11th highest source of the gas nationwide. 

Pervasive disinformation around Canada’s voluntary fertilizer reduction plan makes it hard to have a rational discussion on this critical topic, Green and NDP MPs say.

Conservative politicians and advocacy groups linked to Canada's far-right and fossil fuel lobby have been posting erroneous information about the federal government's fertilizer plan, a Canada's National Observer investigation reveals.

Industrial farming practices like pesticides can harm native bees, contributing to their global decline. UBC master's student Jennifer Lipka is looking at how to make farms more bee-friendly. The stakes are high: without pollinators, everything from food security to native plants is in danger. 

With the drive for renewables leading to land-use conflicts, building highly efficient utility-scale solar farms on ever-smaller tracts of land has become a top priority. New approaches range from installing PV arrays that take up less space to growing crops between rows of panels.

The average price of food has soared by 8.8 per cent, forcing about a quarter of Canadians to cut back on their grocery bills in an effort to adapt, StatCan reports. But those increases haven't been equally distributed, with the price of some foods spiking nearly twice as much as others.

Real estate prices have soared across Canada in recent years, and farmland is no different. From B.C. to the Maritimes, farmland near urban centres is being eyed by developers seeking to turn fields into suburban malls and cul-de-sacs.

Zebra and quagga mussels are small freshwater mussels originally from the Black and Caspian seas. The invasive mussels can transform aquatic food chains and grow in thick carpets that can clog farm irrigation lines, hydropower dams and municipal waterworks. Keeping them out of B.C. is a full-time job for two dedicated dogs.