Grant: Alliance Grants

The agriculture sector in Canada is vital for its economy, contributing $143 billion to its GDP. The agricultural production system faces significant uncertainties due to climatic change, population growth and increased food demands, declining soil health, agricultural land shrinkage due to urbanization, and farm profitability challenges faced by growers. The agriculture contributes ~10% to Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing GHG emissions is crucial to climate change mitigation and achieving Canada's NetZero commitments. This situation emphasizes the need to develop sustainable agriculture best management practices (BMPs) by integrating precision agriculture (PA) technologies, sustainable water management strategies, innovative ways to improve soil health, conducting GHG emissions inventory and budgeting, developing smart applicators for site-specific, efficient applications of agrochemicals, implementing the concepts of regenerative agriculture, circular bioeconomy, and performing life cycle analysis.The proposed project is focused on the following deliverables, i) Explore innovative methods to improve soil health and conduct GHG emissions inventory to develop BMPs to lower GHG emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change, ii) Develop sustainable water management strategies to devise need-based irrigation systems using advanced modeling tools, iii) Implement the concepts of circular bioeconomy and life cycle analysis to sequester carbon, improve soil health, and suggest sustainable alternative solutions to increase crop production efficiency, iv) Development and implementation of transformative sensor-based smart applicators to apply need-based agrochemicals (fertilizers and pesticides) to reduce GHGs and environmental risks, v) Conduct profitability mapping and remote sensing services to develop BMPs for optimal resource conservation to promote sustainable agriculture practices, and vi) Execute transformative techniques to build capacity, implement effective technology transfer efforts, and develop pathways to remove barriers to technology adoption.The proposed research will be undertaken by an excellent team of PA experts, soil scientists, engineers, modelers, social scientists, data scientists, indigenous researchers, agronomists, economists, and Agriculture Agri-Food Canada scientists. Equity, diversity, and inclusion are considered as a guiding principle to constitute the research team. A diverse range of industries, collaborators, grower organizations, and partners are engaged in this project to facilitate the development of transformative technology and BMPs for sustainable agriculture. Development of innovative systems and BMPs based on scientific investigations, hands-on skills, experiential learning, and extensive lab/field evaluations will train highly qualified personnel (HQP). The extensive engagement with industry partners, collaborators, and growers will help to transform and improve the adaptation of sustainable agriculture BMPs in Canada, in addition to capacity building of growers. This training in an emerging era of sustainable agriculture will help HQP to secure employment in industry, government, and academia. The proposed research will create awareness about sustainable agriculture practices bringing socio-economic benefits and increase the sustainability of rural life in Canada. The novel technologies and BMPs developed through this pilot project will be transferred to other provinces in Canada for a wide-scale adaption. Research and development in an evolving area of sustainable agriculture will make Canada a world leader in technology.