Sarah Klopatek is the chief livestock scientist at JBS where she focuses on cattle system dynamics and sustainability in livestock. She spoke at the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference on January 29 in Saskatoon, Sask.

Frequently, the beef industry is criticized for being bad for the environment. Cattle are well known for the methane they produce and have been under fire for emitting more greenhouse gases than other forms of agriculture.

However, Klopatek says this isn’t the full story. In total, livestock equal about 4.8 per cent of all direct emissions in Canada, with cattle making up half of that number. If you include indirect emissions and how many greenhouse gases are emitted from farm to plate, the ag sector totals around 30 per cent globally.

“It’s going to be higher because it’s including all of the other sectors to get the food to your plate, and it includes the emissions from after you throw your plate out,” Klopatek said. “Globally, the systems are not nearly as efficient in developing nations as they are in Canada and the United States.”

Developed nations emit less greenhouse gases for the amount of beef they produce because of the focus on efficiency. Klopatek said it takes developing countries four animals to produce the same amount of beef as one cow in Canada.

“There is extreme variation in carbon intensities in different beef cattle systems across the world. And so we’re looking at ten to 15 to 50 to 100 times greater in different systems.”

So, when focusing on global emissions, the solution isn’t to eat less meat – instead, it is to help developing countries become more efficient, she said. This is why countries like Canada and the United States are producing more meat than ever, even though their cattle herds are decreasing.

And, from 2014 to 2024, the Canadian beef sector has decreased its greenhouse gas emissions by 17.5 per cent.

“We cannot let people wiggle out of the efficiency angle, because at the end of the day, yes, we need to lower emissions and we need to produce more food. If you put resources into these nations that are using four cows instead of one, that’s how you can help fix food security, and that’s how you can truly reduce emissions,” Klopatek said.

Overall, management style is what can significantly affect greenhouse gas emissions. Klopatek said if you want to make a difference in your carbon footprint, you should have goals that you adapt your management practices to achieve. Examples of this are health, grazing, genetics, etc.

She said it is also important to combat misinformation about the beef industry and spread the word about the good work that is being done by cattle producers.

“There is a great deal that can be done. And to be honest, it’s not going out and being like, here’s your CV. What it is management, is continued efficiency of the system, and it’s doing what the US and Canada has done over the last 50 years, and it’s getting that out to the world,” she said.

“Efficiency is so important, because it’s everything, it’s greenhouse gases, it’s profitability, it’s food security.”

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The case was brought by Greenpeace, which said the government was not doing enough to lower illegally high levels of nitrogen oxide emissions caused by intensive farming and heavy use of fertilizers, as well as traffic and construction in the densely-populated Netherlands.

The court in The Hague said the government had clearly failed to comply with European regulations to preserve vulnerable nature reserves and cut excessive emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonia, which hurt biodiversity and damage the quality of water.

It ordered the government to meet its target of reducing the emissions to legally allowed levels in 50 per cent of all affected nature reserves by 2030, and ruled that it should be fined 10 million euros (C$15 million) if the goal was not met – a sum unlikely on its own to provide a major impetus for change.

Agriculture minister Femke Wiersma said she was disappointed by the court ruling and was considering an appeal.

“We take the nitrogen problem very seriously,” she said in a post on X. “But we can’t ask the impossible of people and companies.”

The problem is seen as a potential stumbling block for the already fragile government coalition, which includes far right leader Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party and a farmers party that was created to protest against nitrogen measures.

The nitrogen problem has plagued the Netherlands for years following rulings in 2018 by the European Court of Justice and in 2019 by the Netherlands’ Council of State that Dutch policies were failing to address it.

Efforts to reduce emissions by buying out livestock farmers triggered large protests, while courts have routinely blocked major construction projects until the problem is solved.

The country’s previous government in 2022 laid out targets for reducing nitrogen pollution in some areas by up to 70 per cent by 2030, but policies to reach that goal have largely been scrapped by the current government as farmers argued they were poorly conceived and unfair.

“Measures were already largely insufficient to reach the 2030 goal and there is no improvement in sight,” the court said, adding that the government’s lack of action was unlawful.

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The $12 million challenge was announced last year by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Impact Canada, a federal government initiative to help fund development and adoption of innovative solutions to societal problems like housing, food waste and climate change.

The approach was launched by the federal government several years ago as a way of crowd-sourcing innovation. It is designed to encourage innovators to come forward with their approaches to solving specific problems.

The challenge program is backed by fairly significant funds. The methane reduction challenge, for example, offers two grand prizes of up to $1 million each, with finalists receiving up to $500,000 each.

The 13 semi-finalists, spanning feed, breeding and technology, were selected from 86 applications and will receive approximately $150,000 to move their concepts into the prototype development stage.

A further (up to) $230,000 per semi-finalist will be awarded next spring to those with successful prototypes so they can proceed with testing. Ten finalists will be selected by spring 2026, with the grand prize winners announced in winter 2028.

Two Greater Toronto Area companies, Ample Agriculture and Pond Technologies, are working on feed additives that reduce methane emissions from cattle. Guelph-based Semex is developing a genetic breeding protocol to let farmers select cattle that produce lower methane levels.

Sustainable Bio Security Inc. uses ozone to improve dairy cattle health, and WaterPuris is using extremely small gas bubbles – nanobubbles – and sensors for water treatment.

The 10-member challenge jury includes names familiar to Canada’s livestock sector, like University of Guelph livestock genomics professor Christine Baes, Fawn Jackson from Dairy Farmers of Canada, Cedric McLeod of the Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association, Joy Agnew from Olds College and Reynold Bergen with the Beef Cattle Research Council.

Two other challenges involving agriculture and agri-food have already been completed.

Ecoation from British Columbia was declared the winner of the Deep Space Food Challenge earlier this year for its modular indoor food production system called CANGrow. Designed to operate in remote environments like outer space and northern regions, the system can produce a range of fresh foods, like strawberries, cherry tomatoes and fungal-based meat substitutes.

Another indoor food production system called Goose, from the University of Guelph, was a finalist in the competition.

Two Ontario companies were the grand prize winners of the Food Waste Reduction Challenge, each receiving up to $1 million to continue development and commercialization of their innovations.

Clean Works from St. Catherines has a proprietary system that uses vaporized hydrogen peroxide, ozone and ultraviolet light to control mildew and micro-organism growth in fruits and vegetables before they are harvested.

This can increase produce shelf life by up to 20 per cent, which Clean Works estimates will prevent the waste of almost 50 tonnes of grapes and spinach alone in Canada. It’s also been found to reduce the severity of powdery and downy mildew in grape growing.

Genecis Bioindustries from Toronto has developed a specialized bacteria that transforms food waste into compostable bioplastics that can replace up to 60 per cent of plastic applications, from sunglasses to textiles and grocery bags.

Impact Canada’s challenge initiative spans a range of sectors, including a $75 million cleantech stream with Natural Resources Canada, a Smart Cities program with Infrastructure Canada, a housing stream with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and individual challenges addressing everything from health care in deep space and oil spill response to diabetes prevention and reducing marine plastics.

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Syngenta’s Enogen corn, a genetically modified crop, contains an enzyme which quickly converts starch to useable sugars.

This allows the cattle to reach market weight quicker and so reduces the greenhouse gases they produce before they are slaughtered and their meat is made into burgers.

Syngenta said a herd of 1,000 animals using the corn as feed would produce 196 less tons of CO2, the same as removing 35 cars from the road for a year.

— Reporting by John Revill

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“Ambitious action to reduce nitrous oxide emissions could move the world closer to meeting a wide range of global climate, ozone and other environmental and human health goals,” said the assessment, published by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of over 180 governments, NGOs, and international organizations.

Nitrous oxide is the third most prevalent greenhouse gas and the worst ozone-depleting gas. Emissions, driven primarily by the agricultural use of synthetic fertilizers and manure, have increased globally by 40 per cent since 1980, and are on pace to rise 30 per cent over 2020 levels by 2050, the report said.

The Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment (N2O) report is similar to the 2021 Global Methane Assessment, which showed that human-caused methane emissions can be reduced by up to 45 per cent this decade and laid the groundwork for 150 countries to commit to the Global Methane Pledge to curb those emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

Taking global action to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) could avoid the equivalent of up to 235 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2100, it said.

A U.S. State Department official told Reuters earlier this year that slashing N2O emissions from production of fertilizers or the production of materials like nylon is cheap, costing as little as $10 per metric ton (C$13.90) through projects using the voluntary carbon offset market.

The U.S and China are the biggest emitters of the greenhouse gas.

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Canada’s current agricultural policies are not serving the well-being of the public. Canada’s agricultural program payments and subsidies are not aligned with the government’s dietary guidelines and health goals.

Very few agriculture investments go to the production of fruits and vegetables, even though Canadians under-consume them. Instead, financial support overwhelmingly goes to feed crops, agricultural export crops and foods high in saturated fat. This is particularly troubling, given the rise of food and lifestyle diseases in Canada, such as diabetes, obesity, coronary heart disease and high cholesterol.

The health-care costs of diet-related diseases from not meeting the dietary guidelines are at least two per cent of all health-care costs in Canada, with some estimates putting it as high as 19 per cent. Agricultural policy is not just about food; it influences health, the economy and the environment.

Climate change and agriculture

Trying to address greenhouse gas emissions without paying attention to agriculture is like heating your home while not ensuring doors and windows are closed. Agriculture is a big contributor to Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

As climate change intensifies, bringing more frequent and severe wildfires, droughts, floods, and heat domes , agriculture is being impacted. Instability in weather patterns threatens regional and global social stability and may require Canada to rethink the dominant role of international trade in shaping its current agricultural policies.

Government policies that largely support input-intensive crops and animal agriculture contribute significantly to methane and nitrous oxide emissions and global warming.

Despite these concerns, Canada is not investing strategically or sufficiently in agriculture. Despite $12.5 billion dollars in annual agricultural supports, a surprising portion of Canadian farmers continue to financially struggle to survive. According to the National Farmers Union:

“Over the last three decades, the agribusiness corporations that supply fertilizers, chemicals, machinery, fuels, technologies, services, credit, and other materials and services have captured 95 per cent of all farm revenues, leaving farmers just five per cent.”

In 2016, 66 per cent of all farms in Canada were in the revenue class of $10,000 to $249,999. On average, these farms had expenses exceeding their revenue by a large margin.

While Canada spends a large share of its budget on addressing the negative outcomes of how we produce and consume food, there remain greater opportunities for investing in preventive measures that promote a healthier, more sustainable food system. Canada’s 20th century agriculture policy regime is woefully insufficient for the challenges of the 21st century.

Solutions to the crisis

Transforming our food systems will help to avert devastating climate change and ecological devastation. Many Canadian farmers are already leading the way by incorporating principles of sustainability into their practices. And the good news is that healthy diets are also environmentally sustainable.

Food outlets and school cafeterias can play a role in reducing inefficiencies in the food system, like food waste, and improving sustainability by promoting healthy eating. To make this happen, schools need more resources and autonomy to counter misinformation about food and position Canadians for success by making healthy choices attractive.

Many Canadians support local, bioregional food systems as an alternative to anonymous, transnational food systems. However, these local initiatives are not enough on their own to meet our health, community vitality and environmental goals.

To truly make an impact, local food movements must be part of a larger, co-ordinated effort supported by policies that align agricultural production with healthy diets.

A new approach to food policies that considers them from a holistic perspective, beyond GDP, and respects farmers while creating food systems based on the One Planet and One Health frameworks is needed.

It’s important to recognize that farmers are not only just business operators; they are our neighbours, and are integral to our communities. Supporting them with better policies and giving everyone equitable access to nourishing and sustainable foods will ensure a healthier, more resilient future for all Canadians.

Canada needs to provide stronger support for family farms practising agroecologically sound production methods. Government programs that support greater production and purchasing of grains, fruits and vegetables for direct human consumption are also needed. These initiatives would reduce Canada’s reliance on imports of these critical foods.

In addition, federal and municipal governments should strengthen and broaden Canada’s bioregional food systems while also fostering the growth of small- and medium-sized food businesses. It’s also important to reduce the political and market power of oligopolies in Canada’s food system.

A call for change

None of these changes can happen without moving beyond the current, outdated productionist model that views agriculture in isolation and relies on the belief that only global-industrial food systems can feed the world.

In fact, smaller-scale agroecological farmers operating in bioregional food systems are key. Achieving our broader societal goals means thinking of food through agriculture, human health and environmental sustainability lenses.

Canada needs a new vision of agriculture that connects health and environment goals with sustainable diets and prosperous family farming. This vision must prioritize nutritious diets, human and environmental health, and the overall well-being of society beyond profits, market share and food exports. Also it must be formed collectively by decision-makers, farmers, food processors, community groups and the public.

In Canada, governments, organizations and citizens must work together to create a food system vision for Canada, much like Food Secure Canada’s Resetting the Table process previously did.

Further collaboration among agriculture, environment and health professionals can arise from these efforts, as can be seen with Canada’s National School Food program, which is aligning local farmers and suppliers of local options to meet Canada’s Food Guide. This is also an opportunity for Canada’s Food Policy Advisory Council to gain greater influence in shaping policy.

Just as calls for health-care reform often focus on improving services, Canadians have the right to expect better outcomes from agricultural subsidies. By prioritizing economic, environmental and public health sustainability, Canada can ensure its agricultural policy is fit for its 21st-century food system.

— Kathleen Kevany and Talan B. Iscan are researchers at Dalhousie University. Howard Nye is a researcher at the University of Alberta, and Mark Kent Mullinix is director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

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A tax was first proposed in February by government-commissioned experts to help Denmark reach a legally binding 2030 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent from 1990 levels.

The centrist government late on Monday reached a wide-ranging compromise with farmers, industry, labour unions and environmental groups on policy linked to farming, the country’s largest source of CO2 emissions.

“We will be the first country in the world to introduce a real CO2 tax on agriculture. Other countries will be inspired by this,” Taxation Minister Jeppe Bruus of the centre-left Social Democrats said in a statement on Tuesday.

While subject to approval by parliament, political experts expect a bill to pass following the broad-based consensus.

The deal proposed taxing farmers 300 Danish crowns (C$58.77) per tonne of CO2 in 2030, increasing to 750 crowns (C$146.92) by 2035.

Farmers will be entitled to an income tax deduction of 60 per cent, meaning that the actual cost per tonne will start at 120 crowns and increase to 300 crowns by 2035, while subsidies will be made available to support adjustments in farm operations.

The tax could add an extra cost of 2 crowns per kilo (2.2 pounds) of minced beef in 2030, Minister for Economic Affairs Stephanie Lose told public broadcaster DR. Minced beef retails from around 70 crowns per kilo (C$13.71) at Danish discount stores.

New Zealand this month scrapped plans to introduce a similar tax after facing criticism from farmers.

But while Danish farmers had expressed concerns that the country’s climate goals could force them to lower production and cut jobs, they said the compromise makes it possible to maintain their business.

“The agreement brings clarity when it comes to significant parts of the farmers’ conditions,” the L&F agriculture industry group said.

—Additional reporting by Alison Withers and Stine Jacobsen

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Attorney General Letitia James said JBS USA Food Co, the Brazilian company’s American-based unit, has “no viable plan” to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, making its stated commitment to achieving that goal false and misleading.

James said JBS has admitted its “Net Zero by 2040” commitment did not incorporate the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain, including from deforestation in the Amazon.

She also said reaching the goal was “infeasible” given JBS’ plan to increase production and therefore its carbon footprint, on top of greenhouse gas emissions that had by 2021 exceeded those of the entire country of Ireland.

“Families [are] willing to spend more of their hard-earned money on products from brands that are better for the environment,” James said in a statement. “JBS USA’s greenwashing exploits the pocketbooks of everyday Americans and the promise of a healthy planet for future generations.”

The lawsuit filed in a New York state court in Manhattan seeks a $5,000 civil fine per violation of state business laws, and to recoup ill-gotten gains from false sustainability claims.

JBS’s businesses include Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, one of the largest U.S. chicken producers.

In a statement, JBS said it disagreed with the lawsuit. It also pledged to continue partnering with farmers, ranchers and others toward a “more sustainable future for agriculture” that uses fewer resources and reduces its environmental impact.

The company generated about $53.5 billion of revenue in the first nine months of 2023, about 59 per cent of which came from North America and Central America.

JBS shares trade in Brazil. The company has been seeking to list its shares in the United States.

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Those gains were partially offset by increasing emissions from diesel fuel, nitrogen fertilizer and land-use changes.

In a report released this week, the National Farmers Union (NFU) quantified agricultural emissions from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The research compiles many data sources, including national inventory reports (NIRs), and Environment and Climate Change Canada data.

Without accounting for carbon sequestration or desequestration, the report estimates that emissions from agriculture fell to 1.5 million tonnes in 2021 from 1.8 million tonnes in 1990–a 17 per cent reduction.

The largest source of emissions continues to be cattle. Enteric methane from beef and dairy cattle, along with manure management, accounted for 0.52 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2021. This total has steadily decreased since 1990 as the cattle numbers declined. Efficiency gains have also decreased emissions, the report noted.

The NFU added that it’s difficult to draw a boundary line between emission that are and are not from livestock, as significant emissions come from production of feed grains.

Emissions from farm fuels decreased slightly to 0.21 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2021 from 0.29 million tonnes in 1990. This includes diesel and gasoline use, fuel oil, natural gas, propane, and emissions from fossil-fuel-fired electricity generation.

Between 1990 and 2021, the composition of fuel use changed significantly. Fuel oil accounted for about three-quarters of farm fuel emissions in 1990. In 2021, they made up under a third of emissions. Meanwhile, emissions from diesel fuel went from about a quarter of fuel emissions to about two-thirds.

Emissions from nitrogen fertilizer, including fertilizer production, also increased by almost 60 per cent in from 1990 to 2021.

The report also examined carbon sequestration since 1990. This included changes in woody biomass (e.g. removal of trees, shelterbelts), land conversion to cropland, crop residue carbon input, and others.

It concluded that each year since 1990, Atlantic agricultural soils have experienced a net loss of soil carbon. Desequestration seems to be increasing, the NFU noted, with the most significant factor being conversion of land–mainly forest–to cropland. Smaller areas of perennial crops are also behind the change.

Meanwhile, manure application has been the most steady source of carbon addition to soils, the report said. As livestock numbers waned, so did sequestration from manure.

The NFU acknowledged that work needs to be done to reduce uncertainty in emissions numbers. However, it said there is enough data to move forward of agriculture emissions reduction.

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Denmark, a major pork and dairy exporter, could become the first country in the world to levy an emissions tax on farming, a move that has broad political backing in the country, after New Zealand last year pushed back such a tax to the end of 2025.

A carbon tax on farmers could help Denmark achieve its legally-binding 2030 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent from 1990 levels.

But such a measure would also mean higher costs for farmers and as a consequence reduce production by as much as one-fifth, a government-commissioned group said in a report on Wednesday.

A tax of 750 Danish crowns (C$147) per million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted would have the biggest impact. The group also considered lower taxes of 375 crowns and 125 crowns.

“These models are based on something very disappointing, namely that climate reduction can only come by reducing production,” Peder Tuborgh, CEO of dairy producer Arla Foods, told Reuters.

Tuborgh said new technologies had helped Arla’s 9,000 farmers in Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany and Benelux reduce emissions by 1 million tons in the last two years.

“There is an innovation path,” he said. “We would like to continue that journey, rather than having to shut down our production.”

More than half of Denmark’s land is farmed, with agriculture accounting for about a third of the country’s carbon emissions, according to Danish climate think tank Concito.

The agriculture sector has become a political battleground as the European Union strives to meet its net zero emissions target by 2050. Farmers across the bloc have been protesting for weeks, saying they are facing rising costs and taxes, red tape, and excessive environmental rules.

The scenarios laid out by the government advisors would reduce agricultural production by between six per cent and 15 per cent, with cattle and pig production falling by around 20 per cent under the harshest taxation scenario.

“It will be relatively dramatic if we chose to go down that path,” Jais Valeur, CEO of Europe’s biggest pork producer Danish Crown, told TV2.

“It’s key that we encourage our best farmers to become better so that we can lead the way for a sustainable transition,” he said.

–Reporting for Reuters by Isabelle Yr Carlsson, Louise Rasmussen and Stine Jacobsen.

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