Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

In recent years, issues related to sustainable farming, natural resource conservation, and global climate change have created a demand for information about the economic and environmental implications of agricultural production systems. In order to make informed decisions, policy makers and other stakeholders need to know the structure, function, and demographic situation of different farming systems; their location and biophysical resources; how they perform with respect to financial and social benefits; how they change over time in response to changes in technology; markets and input costs; and how they affect the natural environment. This study was initiated as part of a program to estimate the impacts of the emerging bioeconomy on the agricultural landscape and the environment. Specifically, our aim was to develop the capacity to predict the impact of biofuel production scenarios on soil carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recognizing that widespread production of grain and cellulosic ethanol and oilseed biodiesel may have different implications for different farm types and regions, we are integrating economic (policy) models with biophysical process models and incorporating a “whole-farm ” or “farmin