A new report says that Canada’s agricultural land is under pressure to produce more food as demand grows domestically and internationally, while the industry grapples with limited resources and environmental constraints. 

The report by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute released Thursday looks at the pressures on Canada’s agricultural land to produce more food while also mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. 

The institute’s managing director Tyler McCann says Canada needs to be thoughtful about how it uses the agricultural land it has. 

McCann says the wildfires clouding Canadian skies this week are a vivid reminder of the pressure that extreme weather and the changing climate are putting on the agricultural sector.

The report says while technology and agricultural practices can intensify the use of cropland, producing more food on the same amount of land, the sector also needs to consider its environmental impact.

However, it says that some of the practices used to reduce emissions and sequester carbon in agriculture can also improve production output on existing farmland, such as precision agriculture and no-till practices.

(Canadian Press)