Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2023 to 2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy

The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2023 to 2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy is a strategic plan that articulates departmental contributions to five of the 17 goals of Canada's 2022-2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, including supporting a healthier and more sustainable food system, ensuring clean and safe water, advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, reducing waste and transitioning to zero-emission vehicles, and taking action on climate change and its impacts. The strategy establishes specific departmental actions with measurable performance indicators to support improvement in the environmental performance of the agriculture sector by achieving a score of 71 or higher on the Index of Agri-Environmental Sustainability by 2030, implement programs such as the Agricultural Climate Solutions Program (including Living Labs and On-Farm Climate Action Fund) that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by three to five megatonnes over the framework implementation period, and support adoption of beneficial management practices and clean technologies that store carbon and reduce emissions. The strategy is implemented through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (2023-2028) providing $3.5 billion in federal, provincial and territorial funding, and includes specific commitments such as publishing 2,500 peer-reviewed scientific articles in priority research areas, developing 490 clean technologies and adopting 1,200 agricultural clean technologies, supporting 14,000 unique producers in implementing beneficial management practices, and transitioning 100% of the departmental light-duty vehicle fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2030-31. The strategy also establishes reconciliation objectives with Indigenous peoples through 10% annual increase in staffing processes targeting Indigenous applicants and increasing Indigenous employee representation to equal or exceed workforce availability, along with waste management commitments including diverting at least 75% of non-hazardous operational waste from landfill by 2030 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from facilities and conventional fleet by 40% by 2025-26 and at least 90% by 2050-51 relative to 2005-06 levels.