Can we grow food and protect Canadian wildlife at the same time?
Mention of threatened or endangered species in Canada usually evokes images of iconic species in the far north like polar bears or caribou, or maybe marine species like orcas and belugas. These are the species we usually hear about when biodiversity loss and conservation make the news. In reality, most threatened species in Canada actually occur in the southern, food-producing areas of the country. It’s here, in the places where we grow our food, where our actions, both negative and positive, might have the greatest impact on biodiversity.
In southern Canada, which has warmer climate, fertile soils, and often higher species richness, vast areas have been cleared for food production. This has resulted in landscapes dominated by crops, but with some small, fragmented patches of forest and grassland. All of this habitat loss and fragmentation has resulted in population declines for many species, and in some case their loss from Canada, which is also known as extirpation.
Examples like the Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), Island Marble Butterfly (Euchloe ausonides), Black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), and Spring Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) have all been extirpated from Canada due to agriculture (although, they are present in small areas of the U.S.). Other species are also threatened as their habitat continues to be lost or degraded. An analysis by researchers from Dalhousie University in 2006 found that 27% of all endangered species in Canada were threatened by habitat loss from agriculture, with terrestrial mammals (58%), birds (41%), and reptiles (41%) especially at risk from farming.
What, though, can actually be done in croplands to conserve these species? Biodiversity conservation usually involves protection of critical habitat, often through the creation of parks or protected areas. In areas dominated by agriculture, establishing parks can be difficult compared to other less populated parts of Canada. Land is usually privately held, there are numerous land owners and First Nations to consult with, and land values are often high. This complicated landscape and mosaic of stakeholders can make it difficult for conventional conservation actions to be successful.
But, there are other options available that could be more widely used. A wide variety of management practices are at hand for farmers and ranchers who want to improve biodiversity habitat and conserve threatened species on their farms. Practices like fencing off riparian areas from cattle, adding pollinator strips, creating buffer strips between fields and streams, and adding bird houses or bat boxes to their properties can all help conserve biodiversity.
And there is evidence that when these practices are effectively implemented across agricultural landscapes that biodiversity can be conserved in some situations. For example, agri-environment schemes in Europe generally increase farmland biodiversity, although this depends on how the surrounding landscape is managed. As an added bonus, many of these practices can also provide benefits to water conservation and quality, erosion prevention, crop pollination, and natural pest control.
However, to effectively protect species in farmland, there are two critical challenges. First, we need to know what practices should be used where across farm landscapes. Second, and perhaps most critically, we need to remove barriers and provide farmers with strong incentives to actually use these practices.
Conservation dollars are limited, especially in agricultural areas. And convincing farmers to implement conservation practices that often come at the cost of crop production and farm income are difficult. We need improved ways to select actions that will have the greatest positive biodiversity effect at the lowest cost at the spatial scales that matter for species at risk. This will take a great deal of work and research. It means synthesizing what we already know about the links between farm practices and conservation, and increasing collaborations between researchers, farmers, and conservation organizations.
We also need new ways to incentivize farmers to conserve biodiversity, and do so cooperatively at the scales required. For example, creating ways for consumers to choose food products that have been produced more sustainably and create a price signal for agricultural conservation that all farmers can engage with.
A number of promising initiatives are already happening in Canada, but need to be scaled up. Environmental Farm Plan programs are now present in most Canadian provinces, including B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, among others. These government-funded programs provide funding to farmers to work with environmental advisors to voluntarily develop farm plans and improve environmental practices and sustainability on their farms. However, more could be done to improve farmer participation in these plans across Canada.
Private conservation groups are also working to incentivize conservation actions on working farms. ALUS Canada pays farmers across Canada to implement environmentally friendly practices, promoting stewardship and filling the income gap that exists when carrying out these practices. However, only a small proportion of farmers in Canada (575 of ~200,000) participate in ALUS. Similarly, in B.C. and Alberta, Farmland Advantage works with ranchers to implement riparian restoration and wetland fencing to enhance and protect natural values and biodiversity. While these examples are a good start, obviously more needs to happen in this space to effectively conserve agricultural biodiversity.
Agricultural landscapes are complicated and challenging places for conservation. Yet, because of their extent and importance to threatened species, potential gains for conservation in these areas are substantial. We need to ensure that conservation in Canada doesn’t ignore farmland, but embraces it as a place where effective conservation actions support real shifts towards more sustainable and biodiverse agricultural landscapes in Canada.
Further Reading:
- Coristine, L. et al. 2018. Informing Canada’s commitment to biodiversity conservation: A science-based framework to help guide protected areas designation through Target 1 and beyond. Facets 3: 531–562
- Venter, O. et al. 2006. Threats to endangered species in Canada. BioScience 56(11): 1–8.
- Batáry, P. et al. 2015. The role of agri-environment schemes in conservation and environmental management. Conservation Biology 29(4): 1006–1016.
- Whittingham, M. 2011. The future of agri-environment schemes: biodiversity gains and ecosystem service delivery? Journal of Applied Ecology 48(3): 509–513.
