Agriculture and agri-food’s role in the net-zero transition differs from most other sectors: emissions are largely biological, arising from livestock digestion and manure, nitrogen fertilizer use, and soil processes, with the remainder combustion-related from on-farm fuel use. These emissions are spread across nearly 190,000 farms rather than concentrated in a handful of facilities, so no single technology delivers net zero here. Progress depends on stacking three levers together: reducing the emissions intensity of livestock production while gradually shifting some consumption toward lower-emission proteins, reforming cultivation and soil management to cut fertilizer- and land-driven emissions, and displacing on-farm fossil fuel use with electrification or alternative fuels.
That same dispersion makes emissions difficult to measure, verify, and regulate farm by farm, especially for soil- and livestock-driven sources that vary by region, climate, and management. Public extension services that once spread proven mitigation practices have been substantially reduced, and Canada still lacks a clear decarbonization roadmap for agri-food, leaving producers and processors without a clear signal for where to invest.
Emissions are largely biological and complicated to address requiring many complementary decarbonization practices.
GHG footprints vary widely for the same product, so a practice that works on one farm may not transfer cleanly to another.
Mitigation practices often carry high upfront costs, and existing farm debt loads and slim margins limit the capital available to adopt them.
There's no certification system letting producers capture a price benefit for lower-emission production.
With 60% of production exported, domestic shifts in consumption don't necessarily cut agricultural emissions.
Programs built around price stabilization and export volume can inadvertently discourage practices like crop diversification.
Crop insurance payouts already rose from $1.9B (2018) to $5.7B (2023), with larger impacts expected.
Rates are region- and soil-specific and decline as soils saturate.
Moving away from high-input monocropping is a multi-decade structural change, not a near-term fix.
Avoiding conversion of grasslands, peatlands, and wetlands is one of Canada's most impactful natural climate solutions, and agricultural expansion reduces that potential.
Emissions per unit of output.
Level of soil organic carbon in monitored soils.
Fossil fuel share of on-farm and processing energy use.
Canadian organic imports outpaced exports by nearly $330M in 2020 — room for domestic production growth.
Canada's legume base could support higher-value plant-based protein manufacturing, IP, and exports.
Growth in precision agriculture and monitoring/verification services.
Scores are grounded in the sources cited throughout each sector assessment, then reviewed by experts and industry stakeholders to confirm how each pathway elements criteria are ranked.
economic viability score
Economic Viability description
