Sustainable development goals

Zero Hunger (SDG 2)

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

The challenge

Ending hunger sustainably isn’t just about producing more food. It’s about producing more food on less land using fewer resources — so that good, safe, healthy food products are available and affordable for all. Achieving those goals requires new technologies, new approaches to farming and even new crops that plant science and agricultural innovation can deliver.

How plant science can help: Growing more – with less

Plant science innovations increase the food supply by making farms more productive. Just through plant breeding alone, Canadian farms produce 50 percent more today than they did 100 years ago. New plant breeding innovations like gene editing can also develop higher-yielding crops that require less water and land, while pesticides help prevent the loss of fruits, vegetables and field crops to insects, weeds and diseases.

Without plant science innovations, Canadian farmers would need 44 percent more land to grow the same amount of food they do today. Using less land and resources makes food more affordable, reducing the average household Canadian grocery bill by about $4,500 a year. 

Making crops hardier and healthier

Plant breeding innovations, including gene editing, can help make crops more tolerant to changing environmental conditions, adapting them to heat and drought, or enabling them to grow in fewer frost-free days. That gives farmers more options to grow a wide variety of crops in different places and helps create more resilient food systems.

Plant science ingenuity can also enhance the nutritional properties of foods or remove common allergens and address food sensitivities so more people can safely enjoy the foods available to them.

Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11)

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

The challenge

Green space is a vital contributor to community health and wellbeing. Canadian cities provide an average of four hectares of natural area for every 1,000 residents, according to Park People’s 2022 Canadian City Parks Report. But 90 percent of respondents to that study said protecting and enhancing biodiversity and natural environments is a challenge. Plant science innovations help protect urban green spaces that contribute to both environmental sustainability and societal well-being.

How plant science can help: Protecting and preserving green space

Public parks, lawns and sports fields need to be defended against weeds and pests so they can flourish. Thriving green spaces deliver a wide range of benefits, from reducing water runoffs to capturing air pollutants and absorbing heat. They also create spaces for people to enjoy nature, practice physical activity and gather. Pesticides play a key role in controlling destructive plants, insects and diseases that may keep green spaces from providing those benefits. And pesticides help manage plants like ragweed that cause people to suffer allergic reactions and asthma attacks. They also control mosquitos that carry dangerous diseases such as the Nile viruses or dengue fever in warmer-climate countries.

Healthy lawns and grasses reduce ambient temperatures. They can be more than 10 degrees cooler than streets and sidewalks on hot summer days.

Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12)

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

The challenge 

The world’s population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. To ensure everyone on the planet has access to an adequate supply of healthy food — while minimizing our impact on the environment — we need to find ways to sustainably increase production. And we need to find ways of fostering a circular economy, which includes the responsible management of waste.

How plant science can help

Making agriculture more precise

Precision agriculture technologies including GPS guidance, drones, sensors, soil analytics and precision machinery allow farmers to grow crops more efficiently than ever before. Data analysis makes it possible to pinpoint exactly where and when to plant seeds or apply water, fertilizers or pesticides to grow the most successful crops with the least waste.

Integrated pest management (IPM) brings similar focus to agricultural practices. It’s about using the right control method at the right time and the right place — obtaining the best, healthiest crop with the least amount of inputs.

Safeguarding crop quality

It’s critical to ensure that the majority of the food we harvest reaches consumers in high-quality, usable condition. Plant science innovations help to reduce food waste by making foods more durable and longer-lasting, resistant to the effects of climate change while reducing spoilage and waste. The Arctic® Apple, for example, can stay fresh up to 28 days after slicing thanks to genetic engineering that prevents the release of a specific enzyme. Similar solutions have been developed for mushrooms and potatoes with significant potential to reduce food waste along the value chain and through to the consumer.

Acting as stewards

The Cleanfarms program recycles empty pesticide and fertilizer containers as well as seed and pesticide bags to reduce environmental waste. Operated on behalf of Canada’s crop protection industry, in 2021 Cleanfarms collected more than 5.2 million containers and nearly 300,000 seed and pesticide bags. The program also handles the safe collection and disposal of obsolete and unused pesticides.

Farmers today use 95 percent less active ingredient to control pests than in the 1950s.

Climate action (SDG 13)

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

The challenge

Climate change is a direct threat to food production with changing and more extreme climate conditions making producing food more challenging and volatile. But sustainable agriculture stands to be a part of the solution, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon, protect biodiversity and create more resilient food systems. Plant science and agricultural innovation will be important in this pursuit.

How plant science can help: Reducing emissions and soil erosion

Conservation tillage and no-till farming are practices facilitated by the use of plant science innovations that help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and protect vital topsoil from eroding. Between 1996 and 2018, these practices cut farmers’ fuel consumption by 1.2 billion litres in Canada. Those savings, combined with carbon sequestration from leaving plant matter on the surface of the land, reduced agricultural GHG emissions by roughly 20 billion kilograms in the same period.

Preventing soil erosion helps keep agricultural land fertile, productive and richer in plant nutrients. With more than 80% of farmland in Canada at low risk of erosions, conservation tillage and no-till farming have proven crucial in supporting sustainability on the farm.

Withstanding climate impacts

Flooding, drought, increased salinity and other climate-related changes require farmers to grow food in increasingly unpredictable and challenging conditions. Plant science innovations such as gene editing can help develop more adaptable and resilient plants to mitigate those effects and expand the number of food crops that can be grown commercially in Canada and around the world.

From 1996 to 2018, conservation tillage and no-till farming reduced GHG emissions in Canada equal to removing 13 million cars from the road for one year.

Life on land (SDG 15)

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

The challenge

Meeting the need for increased food production can lead to deforestation or the destruction of natural habitats that are vital to biodiversity, water security and climate change mitigation. Continuous innovation in agriculture can help drive production increases on existing agricultural land to meet the growing demands of the global population without encroaching on vital greenspaces and natural habitats.

How plant science can help: Leaving land untouched

Plant science innovations that allow producers to grow more crops on less land help preserve forests and habitats while consuming fewer resources. In Canada, nearly 34 million acres have remained in natural condition as a direct result of agricultural innovations such as plant biotechnology and pesticides. No-till practices facilitated by agriculture innovations also help keep our agricultural soils strong, reducing unwanted runoff into water thus helping protect aquatic organisms.

Deterring invasive species

Invasive plant species can radically alter and sometimes overtake native ecosystems because there are no natural mechanisms to control them. According to the North American Invasive Species Management Association, crop protection products such as pesticides and herbicides are effective countermeasures when other interventions fail, preserving plant and animal habitats for decades to come.

No-till farming has been shown to reduce pesticide runoff to lakes and streams by 90 percent.