Building a Movement for Climate-Friendly Agriculture in Canada

August 24, 2022

Anastasia Fyk’s family migrated to Canada from Ukraine four generations ago. They’ve been growing buckwheat and other grains on their land on the east side of Garland, Manitoba, ever since. 

As a young farmer, Anastasia Fyk is passionate about finding more ways to build up the ecosystem in her farm’s soil so it can capture and transform more carbon. That’s also why she participates actively in the work of Farmers for Climate Solutions.

I just think that there’s so much potential. If we had the government’s support and incentives for different practices, equipment, techniques, and educational support, we could really go a long way.

Anastasia Fyk

Agricultural land has enormous potential to pull greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere and into the soil, but only if farmers are using practices that are good for the climate and for biodiversity. Many Canadian farmers want to do so, but with thin profit margins, they can’t afford the cost of transitioning to new practices. 

Thankfully, you helped farmers advocate for climate-friendly agriculture in 2021. Thanks to your support, we were able to continue supporting Farmers for Climate Solutions, a coalition of 24 Canadian organizations that we helped launch two years ago to gain greater influence over the policies and programs that shape farmers’ options for climate action.  

Together, we advocated for greater government support to help farmers transition to climate-friendly practices, and we won! In August 2021, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada launched a $200 million “On-Farm Climate Action Fund” to provide that support. 

We also helped the climate conversation move forward by bringing together an unprecedented Task Force of farmers, economic experts and policy researchers to review all current agricultural programs. The Task Force identified how these programs could change to work towards—not against—farmer’s climate action goals. 

Last but not least, your generous support helped Farmers for Climate Solutions get on track to significantly influence Canada’s next Agricultural Policy Framework. This is the agreement that lays out directions for all agricultural programs and policies in Canada for the next five years. Already, the federal and provincial agriculture ministers declared that climate action would be the next agreement’s first priority. Thank you for helping us pave the way for more farmer-led climate solutions in Canada!