The Future is Here: Inside an Innovative Collaboration with McCain Foods

Science is essential to finding innovative and sustainable ways to improve farming practices and meet the growing demand for food. As the need for sustainable agricultural practices increases, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) scientists are collaborating with an agri-business in New Brunswick to help farmers across Canada reduce their environmental footprint, improve productivity, and better manage their fields.

A Scientifically Stimulating Collaboration

AAFC's Fredericton Research and Development Centre (RDC) has been collaborating with McCain Foods in Florenceville, New Brunswick for over 50 years. Most recently, a collaboration between AAFC scientists and McCain's Farm of the Future project has been centered around co-developing and testing beneficial regenerative farming practices in New Brunswick. These practices, which include precision agriculture, controlled traffic farming, and cover cropping, aim to promote sustainable agricultural practices by enhancing the health of the environment and ecosystems and decreasing the farm's carbon footprint, while increasing its productivity. The project also aims to transfer knowledge to growers across New Brunswick and Canada.

The collaboration between AAFC and McCain's Farm of the Future project began in 2020 under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (2021-2023). As of April 2023, this collaboration is supported through the new AgriScience Horticulture Cluster, funded under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (2023-2028).

The project requires a unique blend of insight and assets from both organizations. The McCain Foods' team working on this project suggested new beneficial practices to test at the farm, and AAFC scientists are collaborating on how to scientifically implement them. The Fredericton RDC is providing scientific expertise in soil science, plant ecology, entomology, plant pathology, soil microbiology, and soil and water conservation, which is essential in evaluating the effects of regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices on soil carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing carbon in order to reduce the amount that is released into the atmosphere. Two of McCain Foods' Farm of the Future fields in Florenceville are the hubs for these experiments.

Dr. Claudia Goyer, plant pathologist and soil microbiologist at the Fredericton RDC, is AAFC's lead on this collaboration.

"It's a win-win project. Canadians want their food to be produced using good farming practices. It's also important to maintain an agricultural sector that is competitive and that is able to supply nutritious and safe food to Canadians and be productive even with climate change. So far, it's been a scientifically stimulating collaboration!" says Dr. Claudia Goyer, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientist.

Practices Make Perfect

To put ideas into motion, McCain's team and Dr. Goyer, along with a team of nine other AAFC scientists across New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, have been researching three regenerative agriculture practices that are designed to reduce a farm's overall carbon footprint and increase soil health. An important benefit of these practices is that they can be easily adopted by Canadian producers. The three main practices being studied are:

• Precision agriculture: Studies of the soil's properties to determine different "management zones" within a field, in order to apply the precise amount of fertilizer needed, leading to lower input costs and a reduction in chemicals used on the fields.
• Controlled Traffic Farming: Restriction of the driving of farm tractors and machinery to specific tracks in a farm field. Studies of how this practice allows the rest of the field to remain traffic-free and lessen its compaction overall, which could help water percolate through the soil profile, avoiding water run-off and retaining nutrients, particularly during extreme weather events.
• Crop production systems with increased plant diversification: Studies of fall or spring cover cropping and/or multi-species mix in the rotation to increase the number of plants in the field, which boosts plant diversity and biomass, while minimizing erosion and the loss of soil organic matter.

The Future of Farming

The AAFC and McCain Farm of the Future collaboration is already showing promising potential! The project is providing a space for innovation and beneficial change through engagement with industry partners, including growers.

With the project set to be complete in 2028, Dr. Goyer and her team continue to collaborate with McCain's Farm of the Future team to scientifically evaluate the effect of these practices on crop productivity, soil health, biodiversity, and water quality. Preliminary results have already indicated improvements in soil quality and increased potato productivity.

Practices co-developed and tested throughout this collaboration will benefit the agricultural industry as a whole by providing farmers with resources and techniques that can reduce their environmental footprint and improve productivity.

This collaboration truly merges science and practical adoption that ultimately looks to create a brighter and more sustainable future for farming.