THE REAL GREEN ACRES; MONOCULTURE CROPS

McCain builds upon its rich past to map out a greener future

McCain Foods' Farm of the Future in Florenceville-Bristol seeks to sustain potato production and battle climate change in the years and decades ahead by drawing on the McCain family's rich heritage and ingenuity from past years and decades.

"Nothing is more important to us than our heritage as a family company," said Jess Newman, McCain's senior director of agriculture and sustainability, "as a company founded by farmers right here in Florenceville."

It's not an accident that the first of three Farms of the Future planned for different corners of the globe by 2025 sits in Florenceville-Bristol, N.B., near the heart of McCain Foods' vast farming and food processing global enterprise.

Newman explained the Farms of the Future, like the one which began operation this year in New Brunswick, will serve as a testing ground for innovative practices aligned with regenerative agriculture.

She said the farm would share its successfully proven practices with McCain's potato producers across the region and around the world.

"Our commitment is to implement regenerative agriculture practices on 100 per cent of potato acres," Newman said.

Globally, she added, the frozen French fry giant draws from 320,000 potato acres. Eventually, she said, information garnered from the experimental farms will improve the sustainability of all potato production.

"Our Farm for the Future in our hometown of Florenceville is our first one, but we have plans for more to come because practices are highly regional," Newman said.

She explained that research on a full-scale farm operation, rather than a small lab demonstration, will help ensure the accrued knowledge is transferable to potato producers.

Newman said the commercial field farms would help demonstrate that the successful financial and environmental farm practices developed on the Farm of the Future will work on any farm.

She explained the Farm of the Future operates like any full-scale potato farm, complete with diversification and crop rotation.

Over a four-to-six-year rotation, Newman said, the farm will rotate crops already found on most potato-growing operations, including barley, alfalfa, winter wheat, corn and others, along with potatoes.

A key element of the farm is discovering regenerative practices and increasing crop resiliency, citing last summer's drought as an example of challenges that may become more common as the climate changes.

Newman said experts would research improvements dealing with soil compaction and water retention.

During its first year, McCain's Canadian Farm of the Future will seek to incorporate precision agriculture technologies like remote sensing, experimenting with seeding practices and implementing controlled traffic, a ground-breaking shift in approach that significantly limits the time a tractor and other heavy machinery spends on a field.

Through the research, Newman said, McCain growers will remain partners in the research and improvements.

"The reason we're so excited about this work and so committed is we've seen the effect of climate change on our growers' livelihoods first, like we saw last year in New Brunswick," she said. "For us, our growers are the most important. They're our partners, and our success is inextricably linked. For that reason, we're really excited to do this together and collaborate. We want their input on our regenerative agenda. We want to be moving forward, hand in hand."

The Farms of the Future is only one part of McCain Foods' overall commitment to reduce carbon emissions and battle climate change on a significant scale.

"We have a goal that by 2030 we'll be 100 per cent renewable electricity," said Newman.

Additionally, by 2030, McCain set a goal to reduce absolute carbon emissions in its supply chain by 25 per cent.

Newman said McCain purchased the 500-plus-acre farm last year and is working collaboratively with the former owner this year. She said it employs a local farm crew to plant, maintain and harvest this year's crops.

The Florenceville-Bristol Farm of the Future is just one aspect of McCain's comprehensive plan for a greener future.

In June, the company released its 2020 Global Sustainability report Together, Towards Planet-Friendly Food, in which McCain pledged to implement regenerative agricultural practices across 100 per cent of its potato acreage — representing 370,000 acres worldwide — by 2030. This transition will restore and protect soil health and quality and look to natural processes to control pests, prevent plant disease and strengthen crops against severe weather events.

"The pandemic has put a spotlight squarely on the precarious nature of our global food system," Max Koeune, Chief Executive Officer of McCain, said at the time of the release. "But the largest challenges we face are related to climate change. It's estimated that a quarter of man-made carbon emissions come from the production of food, and if we have to grow more food to feed more people, that will only intensify. If we don't transform the way we grow food, the whole system is at risk of suffering irreparable damage."

Koeune said McCain will produce an annual sustainability report to measure its progress.

As it released its 2020 report, McCain outlined its commitments beyond its Regenerative agriculture pledge. They included:

McCain has also tracked its progress against commitments it made in its inaugural Global Sustainability Report last year, including:

Jim Dumville, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, River Valley Sun