Grant: Alliance Grants

Approximately 30% of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG's) originate in agriculture. At the same time, agricultural land management holds unique opportunities to mitigate GHG emissions through carbon sequestration. The 2023 IPCC report identified carbon sequestration in agricultural landscapes as a promising option for GHG mitigation, especially over longer time scales. Perennial plantings, as windbreaks, hedgerows, riparian cover and woodlands, and as ground cover in field margins and between rows, have the potential to increase long term carbon sequestration and storage in Canadian agricultural landscapes. In addition to their role as carbon sinks, perennial plantings offer a suite of important ecological and socio-economic co-benefits. Hedgerows co-designed with Indigenous ecological knowledge keepers could have the additional co-benefit of supporting Indigenous food systems and reconciliation. However, research is needed to better understand how the species composition, configuration and location influence the benefits of perennial plantings, including their ability to sequester carbon over long time scales. In our novel research program, we test the hypothesis that ecological, social and economic benefits of plantings accrue faster by prioritizing landscape connectivity of new and existing perennial plantings in an agricultural region, for example through shared knowledge, community acceptance, enhanced marketing opportunities, savings on pesticides and managed pollinator costs, and health benefits from reduced agrochemical use. In partnership with 7 non-profit and governmental organizations, and with researchers across 4 Canadian universities, our unique inter-disciplinary research program will study the development and outcomes of perennial planting networks to increase national agricultural carbon sequestration and co-benefits through integrated networks of multi-farm perennial planting schemes. Our work will examine the ways that co-operation and co-benefits within and among communities can accelerate the adoption of perennial planting networks, offering a critical tool to rapidly transform the Canadian agricultural landscape towards a more sustainable future.