Biodiversity protection through innovation

As the world descends on Canada for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15), we have a critical opportunity to shape a path forward for the global protection and enhancement of biodiversity. There are many complex factors that impact biodiversity with agriculture being an important one.

Growing food and feed has an impact on biodiversity, there’s no question. But as we as a planet collectively tackle the challenge of how to feed a population set to hit 10 billion by 2050, we’ll need to lean into sustainable productivity growth in agriculture. We will need to grow more food while simultaneously lowering our impact on the environment.

A history of agricultural innovation in Canada

The good news is, Canadian agriculture has demonstrated that it’s up for the job. Agriculture has become more sustainable than it has ever been before. We can now grow more crop per acre of land than at any other time in history. Growing more on existing land means we can leave wildlife habitats untouched.

Canadian farmers have embraced agricultural innovation to help drive sustainability. Pesticides and biotech crops help farmers make the most of the land already being used to grow food, which allows them to leave natural habitats, such as wetlands and forests untouched and support biodiversity.

Without these tools, farmers would need 44 per cent more land than they use today to grow the same amount of food. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the total area covered by New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. combined.

Our industry works closely with conservation groups like Ducks Unlimited Canada to advance our shared goals of tackling climate change and protecting nature and biodiversity. We believe that modern agriculture is a solution for these challenges and can enable greater carbon storage, water filtration, soil health and wildlife habitat.

Improving soil health, protecting biodiversity

Canadian farmers were among the early adopters of biotech crops more than two decades ago. Herbicide-tolerant crops enabled the wide-spread move toward conservation tillage practices. These crops allowed farmers to apply an herbicide directly to a crop to control weeds without harming the crop. This significantly limited the need for farmers to till – or plow – their fields to remove weeds.

If you ask almost any Canadian farmer who has embraced conservation tillage practices they’ll tell you how it has helped them build organic matter and improve the health of their soil. And since a handful of soil contains more living organisms than there are people on the planet – this has a major impact on protecting biodiversity.

We recognize that the challenge of improving soil health – and protecting biodiversity – cannot be solved in isolation and we are committed to partnering for impact. As an example, eight Canadian agricultural and conservation groups recently came together to develop a series of recommendations for the Government of Canada on priority actions to support sustainability, including biodiversity.

Less is more

Innovations like pesticides have helped make agriculture more productive but the industry has also made significant technological advances in the last 60 years, developing products that are safer and more targeted than ever before. Consider this: pesticides that hit the market today use 95 percent less active ingredient per acre than they did 60 years ago. This ultimately means farmers can apply lower doses of pesticides while still protecting their crops against insects, weeds and diseases.

Farmers are also increasingly leveraging the power of precision agriculture to be more efficient than ever in their use of inputs. Through the use of things like drones, satellite mapping and sensors, farmers can make very targeted decisions about how to best manage each individual piece of their land. They can place crop inputs exactly where they are needed based on data. Ultimately, applying inputs like pesticides exactly where they are needed helps to limit any unintended impacts of these products on non-target organisms, including pollinators.

Protecting urban green spaces and fending off invasive species

Plant science innovations also play a critical role in protecting biodiversity outside of agricultural landscapes. Green spaces in urban environments like public parks and private yards can be important for encouraging biodiversity. But these green spaces require care to thrive because they can come under threat from insects, weeds and diseases. Pesticides can be an important tool to help keep these green spaces healthy.

Invasive plant species can devastate whole ecosystems and irreversibly damage biodiversity. In Canada, the worst invasive plant species is invasive Phragmites, which is a five-metre tall, aggressively destructive plant that has been taking over Canada’s wetlands, beaches and wildlife habitats for decades. Herbicides have proven to be the safest and most effective way of controlling them.

Science must drive decision making

There is no one-size fits all solution to protecting biodiversity and with that in mind we must be open to using all the tools in our toolbox to tackle this enormous challenge. We can be certain that we won’t achieve our ambitious goals of feeding the world while simultaneously protecting biodiversity without the help of innovation.

We need regulatory bodies around the world – and international commitments – to maintain a steadfast commitment to science-based decision making to enable innovation. Canadian agriculture has demonstrated its ability to innovate and will continue to do so as a key solutions provider when it comes to the challenge of protecting and preserving biodiversity.

Pierre Petelle,
President and CEO, CropLife Canada