Supporting sustainable intensification in the Canadian field crop sector: Advancing life cycle assessment methods and applications to identify priority technologies for resource efficiency and emissions reduction objectives

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The agri-food sector contributed 6.6% of Canada's GDP in 2014, providing one in eight jobs and generating over 108 billion dollars. The production of field crops, which occupied over 49 million hectares in 2017, represents 34% of farm cash receipts. As such, field crops are the backbone of this sector. At the same time, field crop production is increasingly recognized as both the originator of many of our most pressing sustainability challenges (competition for land, water and energy and as a source of GHG emissions and nutrient pollution) as well as a potential source of solutions. Sustainable intensification refers to producing more from the same area of land while, at the same time, reducing environmental impacts. This program of research will support effective and efficient, science-based sustainable intensification efforts in the Canadian field crop sector. The research will focus on evaluation and comparison of emerging sustainable intensification technologies (in particular, precision agriculture technologies) for the major Canadian field crops that may support systemic changes in how field crops are produced and the attendant implications for sustainability outcomes.Specifically, this research will:(1) advance state-of-the-art agri-food life cycle assessment (LCA) methods and data and use these to create a set of regionally-resolved models to characterize the production of the five major fields crops in Canada (canola, wheat, soy, barley, and corn), taking into account regional climatic, soil and production technology variables(2) identify and assess (using LCA) current and emerging sustainable intensification technologies for each field crop, including (for example), precision nutrient and crop protection product application, irrigation, and tillage strategies, and identify opportunities for cross-sector technology transfer(3) develop regionally-specific sustainable intensification technology deployment recommendations for each crop(4) develop a user-friendly decision-support tool to enable industry associations, farmers, and other value chain stakeholders to identify and implement appropriate sustainable intensification technology optionsThese research activities will together enable rigorous, systematic and transparent prioritization among sustainable intensification opportunities in the field crops sector, providing the basis for developing sector-specific and industry-wide strategies and milestones for sustainable intensification technology deployment. This will, in turn, contribute to both enhancing the profitability and social license of Canadian agri-food stakeholders and to positioning the Canadian field crop industry to take a leadership role globally in sustainable intensification initiatives in the agri-food sector.