Environmental Sustainability

Table of Contents

1.0 Description and Scope of this Theme

1.1 Theme Description

2.0 Context and Background for This Theme

2.1 Context

2.2 Issues, Trends and Opportunities

2.3 Enabling Components of the Theme

• Capacity for foresight/scenario development
• Improved resource inventories

• Assessment of the impact of government environmental sustainability policy on the agri-food system and consumers

3.0 Research Areas and Priorities for this Theme

3.1 The Approach

3.2 Description of Research Areas

• Enhancing agro-ecosystem resiliency/stability/productivity
• Improving water quantity supply and quality
• Managing air emissions from the agri-food system
• Developing, evaluating and validating Best Management Practices (BMPs)
• Capturing added environmental/societal value from agricultural production and the agricultural landscape

4.0 Critical Success Factors

4.1 Success Factors Concerning Enabling Components

4.2 Success Factors Concerning Recommended Research Areas

5.0 Other Related Considerations and Recommendations

5.1 Considerations

 

1.0 Description and Scope of this Theme

1.1 Theme Description

Sustainability refers to the achievement of an economic, environmental and social state which can be maintained indefinitely. "Environmental Sustainability" at OMAFRA focuses on maintaining the ability of natural resources (soil, air, water and biodiversity) to support and strengthen agriculture, food and bioproduct sectors and rural communities. OMAFRA is called upon to consider economic, public health and environmental aspects in order to achieve sustainable agriculture and food production. There is also a desire for rural Ontario to contribute innovative solutions to environmental issues.

Provinces have jurisdiction over the control and management of land use and emissions to the environment; much of the decision-making related to land use and production is therefore exercised by the provinces. The province is responsible for legislation and regulation regarding land use, agricultural and food operations, practices and impacts. The province also provides recommendations, guidance and programs for adoption of agri-environmental management practices. The legislative, regulatory and programmatic responsibilities of OMAFRA require specific avenues of investigation to support evidence-based policy and programs that may not be supported through other science and research programs.

Economic and population growth present opportunities and challenges for agriculture and the environment. Society plans and modifies the environment with a strong focus on the needs and desires of people. For this reason, the definition of environmental sustainability and the research requirements surrounding it has a strong focus on the basic needs of people. Furthermore, while farmers are good land stewards and environmental managers, their primary concern will be for sustainable agriculture and their own livelihood.

Environmental sustainability is also a critical component of agricultural production and it needs to be considered and incorporated into the other research themes.

2.0 Context and Background for this Theme

2.1 Context and Background

Sustainability of the agri-food system includes economic and social aspects as well as environmental aspects. However, in relation to the other OMAFRA strategic themes, this theme is focused on the natural resources (soil, water, air, and biodiversity) which support and strengthen agriculture, food and bioproduct sectors, and rural communities.
In order to support innovation and advancement in the agri-food sector and address the concerns of society, OMAFRA invests in this research theme to:

1. Understand the agriculture and food sectors potential risks and benefits to soil, water, air and biodiversity resources;

2. Provide a scientific basis for the development of credible and defensible government policies, programs and initiatives;

3. Assess the impact of environmental policies on the agri-environment, and economic stability and opportunities for the sectors and rural communities; and

4. Identify opportunities for agriculture, food, and bioproducts sectors, and rural communities to provide solutions for societal environmental challenges.

 

2.2 Issues, Trends and Opportunities

The following are key insights to be considered in researching the environmental sustainability research theme, and more broadly, applying the results of research for the benefit of the government and stakeholders in the province.

• The basis for environmental sustainability is a solid understanding of biophysical processes and resiliency of the agro-ecosystem. Impacts of human activity, climate change or farm practices on the agro-ecosystem are often only observed on a decadal or century long timescale. As the lifecycle of the agro-ecosystem is on the order of decades, some research needs to encompass a significant portion of this cycle. For example benefits from the adoption of a new management system may be evident in a short time frame (1-3 yrs) whereas the negative consequences of this new management system may only appear over a longer time horizon (>10 yrs). Hence, a combination of both short-term and long-term research studies is required. Balance needs to be achieved between the need for long-term, sustained research and research to address more immediate drivers.

• It is important for environmental sustainability research to have projects/platforms from which holistic and integrated data sets for air, soil, water, biodiversity, land management and economics are collected and linked. Data needs to be collected with regard to general resource inventories (already existing but generally lacking in detail and quantitative information) in such a way as to document and measure evolution, trends and inconsistencies in the various resource bases. It is important that the data be organized in formats which can be integrated with past and future work and that the databases be maintained and made available to multiple agencies and researchers. These datasets can potentially be used to address multiple issues and to calibrate and validate models.

• Land management decisions which affect environmental sustainability are frequently made at the farm level. If research is to impact or influence environmental sustainability it needs to be relevant to the farm level of decision making and include the economic implications for the operation (i.e. profitability and liability).
  

• Land use planning and common resource decisions are made publicly. It is important to communicate accurately and succinctly to the public that information which relates to tradeoffs and risks about agricultural land use compared to other land uses. It is often easier to measure, document and communicate the negative impacts of agricultural production on the environment than the positive contributions. However, positive contributions such as carbon sequestration, open space, wildlife habitat, P-retention, source water protection, organic material utilization, and enhanced water management associated with efficient agricultural production should be recognized as part of an economic solution to societal environmental issues.

• The environment is only one of three aspects of sustainability, the others being economic and social. Farming-systems research that looks at all aspects of sustainability simultaneously and integrated systems analysis which allows individual experimental pieces to be "put together" in a holistic way, are approaches to research which should be pursued. These types of research are important to understanding the interaction between behavioural, economic and environmental drivers. Integrated systems analysis research is not easy to conduct, but it can be done routinely if linkages are established between the various resource inventories and research disciplines to enable data alignment, analysis and interpretation. Integrated systems analysis protocols can be run forwards or backwards to test the impacts of different drivers and assumptions on other components. For long term research and adaptive management this analysis can be useful for determining when assumptions, theories, modeling efforts or even entire research components should be dropped or modified.

 

2.3 Enabling Components of the Theme

Environmental sustainability research must be done in a deliberate, coordinated way. This section identifies a number of needs or resources which allow for better coordination of research - "enabling components" and must be available if research is to be successful. The section concludes with a list of research areas which should be considered eligible areas of research under the OMAFRA/UofG partnership even though they are not listed as research priorities under Section 3.

 

Capacity for foresight/scenario development

In order to set the context for all research and discover what research needs to be done, it is necessary to conduct scoping activities which look at future changes in global/national policy, economics and technology drivers, and to anticipate what impacts these may have on the future structure and nature of the agri-food industry and rural communities in Ontario. Examples of these changes over the last 40 years include the change from 300 to 3000 acre farms, removal of fence rows to increase field size, the increased installation of tile drainage, as well as the changes in the location of farming operations in response to urban expansion. Researchers in environmental sustainability can then investigate what impact these potential scenarios could have on natural resource quality and production sustainability. The description of future scenarios (e.g. in response to continued urban pressures, needs to protect aquifer recharge and wellhead areas, and climate change) would be relevant to beneficial management practice development and to guiding biophysical research.

 

Improved resource inventories (air, biodiversity, soil and water), interpretation and monitoring

A logical progression from scenario development (A) is to develop diagnostic systems which routinely integrate various land databases to assist in monitoring and recognizing trends over time in primarily the state resources (soil, water, air, biodiversity), but also in activity (agriculture census, farm environmental management survey) or other stressor (urban land use, climate) levels. Many of these diagnostic systems can be developed through research projects or by other agencies, but should be flexible to allow for adaptation to the specific needs of the Ontario agricultural sector and maintain them to support scenario analysis (A) and the policy impact assessment activities outlined in the following section (C).

As data from the existing inventories for soil, water, air, biodiversity and climate are integrated, and analyzed, the results will support environmental sustainability assessments by showing the spatial (and to some extent the temporal) relationships between the basic resource layers. These analyses will also reveal gaps and inadequacies in the existing inventories and help define the improvements required to support and document ongoing environmental sustainability efforts. Fortunately, at least in some cases, technology is being developed to rapidly improve the spatial and temporal resolution which can be measured. These inventories and interpretations should allow benchmarking and modelling both forecasting and backcasting so that we can see where we were in the past and project our likely path to the future with business as usual or with potential foresight scenarios. An understanding of "what we've got" in the province in terms of land base capabilities, e.g. for biofuels or bioproducts, or adaptation to climate change, is an important step in identifying constraints or concerns for today's or future farming systems. This information should guide the allocation of future research resources. The monitoring aspect is also important to be able to validate biophysical models on larger scales.

Research areas:

• Development of methods and models to extract data from the specific soil, water, biodiversity and air data holdings and combine them to create resource databases which are spatially and temporally integrated
  

• Development of statistical analysis and scaling tools for hierarchical analysis; descriptions and understanding of data/interpretation reliability and confidence
  

• Development of methods and models to integrate and interpret databases for measures and indicators against which to measure change and long term sustainability; researchers can help develop systems analysis capability
  

• Work with the sector, analysts and other user groups to design protocols and tools to evaluate the environmental impacts of changes in agricultural practice
  

• Development of methods and models to enhance monitoring and improvement of the resource inventories

 

Assessment of the impact of government environmental sustainability policy on the agri-food system and consumers

When new policies are envisioned it is important to predict the impacts on farmers, agri-food processors, rural communities, consumers and the environment. Once implemented it is important to measure the impacts to confirm the policy and allow for adaptive management. Clearly, a substantial portion of this work will be done by OMAFRA in-house (for confidentiality reasons amongst others) in order to select which of the various policy options will be developed for implementation. This policy analysis activity will be highly coordinated with scenario development (A) and will draw strongly on the biophysical database diagnostics and modeling capability developed in (B). Information which comes from monitoring or research innovation also needs to be considered and communicated in the context of existing or needed policy. The nature and efficacy of both existing and proposed policies could be evaluated by researchers.

Research areas:

• Predicting and measuring the nature of environmental change brought about through policy; the research needs to be able to assess and communicate trade-offs that policy makers will have to make and the tools developed need to be amenable to this
  

• Surveys and behavioural research to look at adoption/change with particular tools, public versus producer priorities
  

• Develop criteria for future policy development - predictive, what works, what are constraints
  

• Development of innovative policy tools - jurisdictional scans, comparative analyses, regulatory framework research
  

• Evaluation of environmental policies e.g. education, regulation, taxation etc.

 

3.0 Research Areas and Priorities for this Theme

3.1 The Approach

This section sets out the strategic research areas which OMAFRA will champion for its research programs. They are presented in a logical, unranked, order. Specific research opportunities within a research area have been ranked as high or medium priority. The priorities for this research theme are articulated through five research areas. Each research area has a description and examples of key deliverables to be addressed. Biophysical, social and economic research approaches are encouraged where appropriate to inform agri-environmental policy, programs and initiatives.

 

3.2 Description of Research Areas

Priority Research Areas

Enhancing agro-ecosystem resiliency/stability/productivity

Understanding of biophysical processes in the agro-ecosystem is needed to develop modeling and analysis at different scales in support of environmental sustainability. The key to enhancing productivity, stability and resiliency for land based agriculture is a better understanding of soil health within the agro-ecosystem. A systems approach can incorporate initial resource states, natural and human stressors, natural and behavioural buffering capacity, environmental change, social/economic and biophysical consequences, and feedback mechanisms. Understanding of the agricultural land base as a system is important to determine indicators and ranges within which these systems are resilient and relatively stable, as well as tipping points when stressors cause a system to become unstable or deteriorate.

Benchmarks for sustainability will be specific to location and use of a soil; for instance a soil high in organic matter may be desirable for root penetration and water holding capacity, but enhanced nitrogen cycling may contribute to more denitrification and N2O (a greenhouse gas) production. Connecting models in an integrated manner to concurrently assess soil, water, air and biodiversity responses, as well as multi-functionality, is a component of this research area. Improvements in production efficiency obtained by better understanding of the agro-ecosystem could also be a component of this research area to help producers optimize marginal returns from available resources while at the same time conserving resources.

Key Deliverables will be:

• Evaluations of how changing crop rotations and/or residue removal for bioproducts or on-farm energy production (e.g. used in anaerobic digestors, biomass combustion) impact on crop productivity, demand for and fate of nutrients and pesticides, soil ecology, nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration in Ontario
  

• Life cycle comparisons of bioproduct and alternative production systems to conventional production systems considering economics, GHG emissions, water use and quality, soil quality, pathogen and nutrients losses, land base, energy, input and transport requirements, etc.
  

• Measures, benchmarks and thresholds of agro-ecosystem resiliency, stability and productivity to monitor and evaluate impacts of practices and policies and to respond to drivers like climate change and intensification (greater production per unit land area)
  

• Evaluation of environmental impacts of production systems under predicted climate change scenarios. Assessment of changes that could be made to recommendations and best management practices to adapt to climate change
  

• Definition and delineation of the agricultural landscape to accommodate and optimize multi-functionality including production, habitat and water cycling (e.g. area of wetlands required for a particular function). Determination of the impacts of shifting production to marginal lands versus intensification and evaluation of the potential resource base for bioproduct and food production.
  

• Methods to acquire, develop and analyze agro-ecosystem resource databases (soil, water, air and biodiversity) cost-effectively to provide integrated resource inventories and measures against which to assess change and long term sustainability at different scales. Assessment of the means and policies for data sharing and availability to realize benefits to agriculture, food and bioproduct sectors and rural communities.
  

• Determination of value and cost effectiveness of enhanced monitoring and modelling options for improved resource inventories and interpretations of environmental change brought about through policy and practice implementation.
  

• Improved methods for and monitoring of agro-ecosystem processes over winter (i.e. nutrient and pathogen dynamics, gaseous losses) to validate models and make improvements to recommendations (e.g. tradeoffs between spring versus fall manure application)
  

• Determination of how the variability of the landscape impacts on the efficiency of the farm and farming practices. Determination of the environmental and economic advantages to adopting site specific, real time monitoring or other specialized approaches to managing inputs and practices.
  

• Understanding of how and what level of crop, livestock and other biodiversity contributes to the resiliency, stability, and productivity of the agro-ecosystem

 

Improving water quantity supply and quality

Hydrology is the driver of productivity and pathway/fate of potential contaminants on the farm. Potential contaminants include nutrients such as N and P, soil particles, pathogens and other chemicals such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals. The role of various land uses and practices in changing the quantity, fate and pathway of contaminants needs to be understood and quantified. Concerns for water quantity and quality span many scales from farm to municipality to watershed to the Great Lakes basin.
Research focus on field and subcatchment level hydrology and hydrogeology, providing for scaling up and extrapolation of implications to watershed scale when appropriate and collaborations are available. Research is needed to characterize the biophysical variability and complexity encountered in moving from plot-scale to farm-scale hydrology and subsequent impacts on surface runoff, groundwater recharge, soil storage and land drainage. The implications of climate change for water management in the agri-food sector in Ontario need to be anticipated and understood.

Key Deliverables will be:

• Determination of the sensitivities of different agricultural production and food processing systems to water restrictions. Experimental analysis of scenario impacts of various water supply rules. Determination of the environmental and economic impacts of water restrictions to agri-food production (e.g. impacts of less soil cover, residual nutrients) compared to other water uses
  

• Development of a widely applicable methodology for identifying and mapping portions of fields and subcatchments in rural watersheds that constitute critical source areas for:i) surface runoff, stream sediments and associated contaminants, and ii) groundwater recharge, with particular attention given to winter and spring runoff conditions.

• Improved knowledge of seasonal and variable source area hydrology that can be used to develop, evaluate and validate management methods, such as riparian buffers, to control the transport of sediment, nutrients and pathogens
  

• Assessment of the potential for and impacts of various policy, formal and informal administrative arrangements and technologies for water management to overcome water supply constraints in Ontario for agricultural production and food processing (e.g. water storage ponds, scheduling on shared systems, water re-use)
  

• Improved understanding of agricultural drain ecosystems and functions so that field and rural municipal drains can be designed and managed to improve water availability and quality while retaining production benefits. Determination of the impacts of tile drainage on source area hydrology and groundwater recharge quantity and quality

• Validation of best technical and economically affordable water efficiency measures and water use coefficients for agricultural production and food processing. Linked to #4.
  

• New technologies for identifying and tracking persistence (or survival in the case of pathogens) and transport of agricultural contaminants to support understanding of on-farm hydrologic pathways and evaluation of management practices. Linked to #4.

 

Managing air emissions from the agri-food system

Odour is the number one air issue for public attention and complaint from agricultural and food processing operations. Ammonia is a component of odour, a precursor to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and is listed as a toxic substance by CEPA, Schedule 1. Particulate matter is of increasing concern. Greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) and enhancements to C and N sequestration, part of biogeochemical cycling in the agro-ecosystem, also fall under this area.

Key Deliverables will be:

• Evaluation and validation of strategies and technologies to cost-effectively reduce odours, greenhouse gases, ammonia and particulate matter emissions from agricultural production and food processing

• Validation of coefficients and parameters used in models estimating point and non-point air emissions and transport from agricultural production and food processing. Particular concern for emissions from livestock production and manure use, and fertilizer and agrochemical use.

• Quantification of the impact on human/worker health and animal health of practices to reduce air emissions from livestock facilities

 

Developing, evaluating and validating Best Management Practices (BMPs)

This research area supports the development, evaluation and validation of best or beneficial management practices which are intended to have environmental or public benefit. This applied research should support the development of scientifically credible BMPs, recommendations and support policy development and regulations as appropriate. Validation refers to determining how a practice performs under a variety of circumstances, and requires replication of an experiment over several landscapes for a geographic distribution of impacts. A long-term assessment may also be needed to evaluate all environmental impacts. Evaluation and validation projects are desirable even though a practice may not be considered "new or innovative".

There is a need to confirm that environmental improvements expected through BMP adoption are being achieved at different scales. On-farm or model farm research should be used as much as possible to assess practicality and improve the adoption of BMPs that are validated. Integrated systems analysis should be used to put the biophysical, economic and behavioural "pieces" together. Continued development, evaluation and validation of BMPs, including for purposes beyond those originally intended, is important to quantifying tradeoffs between soil/water/air/biodiversity impacts and environmental/economic/social aspects of a practice.
Study of combinations or systems of practices for different or multiple purposes is also needed.

Key Deliverables will be:

• Evaluation and validation of BMP practice/system effectiveness for multiple pathways, contaminants and purposes to determine additive or contradictory effects of different practices. Evaluation at different scales to determine and confirm both on-farm benefit and extrapolation to broader environmental and societal improvements. Linked to #5.
  

• Determination of the incremental benefits and cost of additional practices to most cost-effectively deploy/recommend BMPS for greatest environmental and production benefit. Potential areas of study include: how to best deploy BMPs to manage sensitive delivery areas and concentrated flows, how to best treat high volume, low nutrient effluents (e.g. greenhouse effluent, washwaters) for different end points (re-use, direct discharge, land application, sanitary sewer) and how to most cost-effectively monitor, manage and reduce pathogens while considering nutrient and other implications.
  

• Evaluation of producer behaviour and willingness to adopt BMPs and implications for policy and program development
  

• New methods and systems for nutrient recommendations that can better account for availability of nutrients from soil organic matter and land applied organic materials, environmental concerns, product quality and safety, and synchrony of release from organic sources and uptake by crops, in addition to most economic yields.
  

• Methods and tools to characterize organic materials and agricultural landscapes in order to assess risk (to soil, water, air, biodiversity and food safety) and recommend management options for land application of these materials

 

Capturing added environmental/societal value from agricultural production and the agricultural landscape

In addition to the goods resulting from agricultural biodiversity (food and fibre production) which are already well recognized by society and have monetary value established through existing markets, there is interest in demonstrating and valuing the public benefits which the management of the agro-ecosystem provides. The public values environmental goods and services such as habitat, species protection, groundwater recharge and wetland filtering, and benefits to the producer such as agroecosystem resiliency and productivity which result from some adopted systems and practices. It is important to understand and quantify the underlying biophysical processes and to develop indicators of the required range of air, biodiversity, soil and water quality for production, so that the additional value or consequences for practices outside this range can be determined.

Key Deliverables will be:

• Definition and measurement of magnitude and distribution of benefits to private and public interests of different systems/practices at different locations and scales.

• Tools and measures to verify environmental goods and services provision in the agricultural landscape.
  

• Determination of the value of private versus public benefit, how these values vary by location and system, and how these differences could affect policy and program development.
  

• Assessment of the societal willingness to compensate agricultural producers for environmental goods and services by different mechanisms. Evaluation of producer behaviour and willingness to deliver environmental goods and services.
  

• Comparison of governance mechanisms and capacities required to implement an environmental goods and services policy for agricultural production in Ontario

Short Term Priorities and Criteria

Given current government priorities, if the situation arises, greater priority will be given to research which provides information: i) about the implications of climate change for the agriculture and food sector and ii) to validate the theories, models and practices underpinning provincial policies and programs (e.g. nutrient management, source water protection, species at risk, GHG offset, environmental goods and services).

 

4.0 Critical Success Factors

4.1 Success Factors Concerning Enabling Components

Capacity for foresight/scenario development: To be successful, foresight activities should involve consultation and stakeholder input, especially on the assumptions chosen. Scenario descriptions and projections will assist researchers in developing more relevant research proposals. The scoping exercise is iterative and should include both forward and backward projections. This work can be ongoing; however, it should annually support planning, goal and priority setting exercises.

Improved resource inventories (air, biodiversity, soil and water), interpretation and monitoring: Researchers work with the Federal and other provincial agencies which maintain, enhance, distribute and interpret spatial databases. Much of the effort at the Federal level in developing the National Agri-environmental Health and Reporting Program (NAHARP) indicators for national and international reporting for example is not at a level of detail relevant to behavioural change or to demonstrating effects of agricultural management or BMPs to the public at the local level.

The potential usefulness of the data needs to be defined and publicly communicated. It is not desirable that the data quality falls short because the multiple potential purposes were not imagined or identified. There is potential to use databases and monitoring at the research, policy and practice levels which needs to be directly applied and communicated.

Access to expertise such as pedologists who understand and integrate biophysical processes in the landscape needs to be improved internally and externally to develop, utilize and interpret these databases.

Assessment of the impact of government environmental sustainability policy on the agri-food system and consumers: Research must be conducted on policy impacts in addition to the knowledge and biophysical and economic modeling ability on which to make science based predictions about policy impacts. Researchers should collaborate with AAFC Agri-Environmental Policy Bureau to improve models used in policy development.

4.2 Success Factors Concerning Recommended Research Areas

Enhancing agro-ecosystem resiliency/stability/productivity: A long term approach needs to be fostered and supported. So far as possible, existing models should be used, adapted and validated for Ontario conditions. An integrated systems analysis approach is recommended to tie together all the components and in particular the biophysical relationships. It is not advisable to develop large all-encompassing models. Rather, use existing models which complement each other so that intelligent human interfaces can make appropriate and documented assumptions when linking model components. Model components can then also be improved and validated separately. A multi-disciplinary approach is required to do agro-ecosystem and integrated systems analysis with much expertise lying outside traditional agriculture disciplines. Case study or model farms should be implemented to analyze long term and system results.

Improving water quantity supply and quality: While recognizing there are linkages to larger scales, researchers should focus on water quality and quantity research and monitoring at the field and farm scales. Research is needed to characterize the biophysical variability and complexity encountered in moving from plot-scale to farm-scale hydrology and subsequent impacts on runoff, recharge and land drainage. Researchers should link on-farm to watershed research projects but should not be expected to take the lead in this regard.

Researchers also need to collaborate with other agencies to define levels of concern (standards/benchmarks) in water bodies for different purposes, i.e. human drinking water, ecosystem (most sensitive species), or for production. Researchers need to work with other agencies to define whether water body sensitivities are due to concentration (acute) or chronic (loading) aspects for different contaminants in order to set targets for systems and practices (zero discharge/risk is not possible in open, biological production systems).

Reducing air emissions from the agri-food system: Similar to the "Water quantity and quality" research area, air emissions and transport research relies on other agencies to determine the importance of sensitivities to concentration (acute) or chronic (loading) aspects for different contaminants in order to set targets for systems and practices (zero emission/risk is not possible in open, biological systems). Other agencies are also interested in larger scale models and health impacts.

The designing of appropriate institutional frameworks to allow air emission trading (carbon offsets) could fit here but may fit better under the "capturing additional environmental/societal value" research area and policy research themes. Again the underlying biophysical components, certainties and means of validation need to be established for trading programs to have a real difference in the environment.

Developing, evaluating and validating BMPs: BMP research generally represents the practical application of basic and academic research findings. Often it includes adapting or testing existing practices and is not considered innovative. Consequently, it does not meet publication or promotion and tenure requirements of academics and additional support may be required to ensure that the applied research step is carried out and documented. The research data underlying BMPs and production recommendations must be organized, documented and stored in an accessible fashion. This information supports acceptance and credibility of BMPs, provides a starting point for future modifications and will be called on when questions of liability arise.

There needs to be recognition of the public and industry service provided by this type of research. Industry and government must play a greater role in this area of research because of the practical and logistical/management requirements and large spatial and temporal scales of the work. For example there are Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Associations spread across the province for which a partnership for on-going co-operation could be established. Large scale projects such as Tillage 2000 or Partners in Nitrogen have been developed under the OMAFRA/UofG partnership in the past. The projects can be designed so that adoption and efficacy can be monitored and public communications incorporated into the project. Partnerships can also be built with producers and agri-business since there are often direct economic benefits of the BMP research

Capturing added environmental/societal value from agricultural production and the agricultural landscape: When looking at valuing environmental goods and services, cost effectiveness needs to be considered, not just cost benefit analysis. The analysis must encompass the range of environmental and ecosystem goods and services including impacts on those which have an existing market system as well as those which are currently part of the general public good. The use of absolute values from cost/benefit analysis to make policy decisions about tradeoffs is cautioned.

Integrated systems analysis is needed because there is usually a range of environmental goods and services that must be accounted for. Often an environmental good or service "comes along" with some other production objective and it is critical to understand the underlying biophysical relationships.

The inventories, interpretations and monitoring of the air, biodiversity, soil and water resources are also important to make the additional markets work because the quantity and quality of the resources, goods and services available needs to be known in order to substantiate trading. However, it is OMAFRA has not made this area of research a significant priority.

 

5.0 Other Related Considerations and Recommendations

5.1 Considerations

Research results inform government policy and influence industry practices in Ontario. Therefore, reports and other methods of communicating research results to OMAFRA and stakeholders are expected. It is recognized that most of these additional considerations may overlap with other themes (e.g. Agricultural and Rural Policy). The translated research results could take the form of:

• Advice on the potential application and use of the knowledge gained, i.e. does new information indicate that a different decision should be made; policy, programs or tools are endorsed or should be reconsidered?
  

• Advice on emerging issues and innovations and future action needed.
  

• Understanding of real versus perceived risks, and relative risks between issues and land management options (Risk = f (magnitude, likelihood, uncertainty)).
  

• Changes in understanding (scientific, economic, environmental) or level of certainty of effects that could influence sector or government decisions.
  

• Incremental benefits and costs (environmentally, socially and economically) of applying findings or implementing recommendations.
  

• Holistic comparisons of options on a life cycle or multi-functional, agro-ecosystem basis.

It is recognized that most of these additional considerations may overlap with other themes (e.g. Agricultural and Rural Policy) and may also be related to knowledge transfer and translation initiatives under the OMAFRA/UofG partnership.