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Nicholas Bannon, Daniel Schuurmann, Alfons Weersink, and Ken McEwan While overall inflation is at its highest level in 30 years, this rate of increase is dwarfed by the huge increases in global fertilizer prices over the last year. Ontario farmers were not immune to these price increases, and most farmers likely noticed a dramatic increase in their input costs in 2021 compared to 2020. The reason for the price increases in fertilizer is due to several global events occurring

Daniel Schuurmann and Alfons Weersink A report[1] released in late September claimed Canada’s emissions targets on fertilizer could cost farmers over $48 billion by 2030. The report by the consulting firm Meyers Norris Penny (MNP), prepared for Fertilizer Canada, came in response to Environment Canada’s climate plan which set a target to reduce emissions from fertilizer by 30% below current levels. The cost of emission reductions from fertilizer is proxied in this report by t

This article was originally posted on The Conversation Canada and was written by Kathryn Walton and Molly Gallant. Food waste is costly — and not just dollars and cents. Food waste also has significant environmental and health implications. Some estimates suggest that up to 50 per cent of food waste in Canada is generated at the household level. So what does this mean for an individual family? To answer this question our team of researchers from the University of Guelph inves

Goldsmiths University of London announced on August 12th that they would no longer serve beef in on-campus outlets as part of a larger plan to move towards carbon neutrality. This has gotten considerable attention across the globe with divergent views on whether this is a good thing or not. I am conscious of my emissions and I still eat beef. I like having access to lunches with beef on campus but its not a critical issue relative to my ability to discuss the merits of beef a

This is a piece that I wrote with my colleague John Cranfield in the Conversation. Published on January 14th, 2018. Will taxing meat products based on their carbon footprint reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve public health? The answer is maybe, but not notably — and it will come with significant costs. A recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change advocates applying taxes to the consumption of meat as a means of lowering GHG emissions. The idea is that if