How collaboration is helping turn climate-smart agriculture into economic opportunity
Canada already has farmers adopting climate-smart practices. Food companies are seeking more resilient supply chains. Investors are looking for credible environmental outcomes.
Yet despite growing interest, these pieces often operate separately.
Without systems that connect farmers, markets, measurement and investment — it remains challenging to navigate supports to scale solutions that deliver environmental and economic value.
This challenge has been a central focus of the Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-Food (CANZA), a national alliance founded to help build the infrastructure needed to support climate-smart agriculture at scale.
Why AFI helped build CANZA
As a founding partner of CANZA, the Arrell Food Institute (AFI) recognized early that advancing sustainable food systems would require more than individual projects or pilot programs.
It would require collaboration across the entire agri-food value chain, bringing together farmers, researchers, industry, financial institutions and government around a shared objective.
“We founded CANZA with the belief that Canada can be a global leader in regenerative, climate-smart agriculture, and we need ways to ensure the market rewards farmers for doing things such as sequestering greenhouse gases and protecting biodiversity,” Fraser says.
“When we have mechanisms in place to provide financial incentives for environmentally beneficial practices, we will see truly economically and environmentally sustainable food systems. The CANZA Marketplace is an important part in the journey towards creating green economic growth.”
A practical step forward
That vision recently reached an important milestone with the launch of the first phase of the CANZA Marketplace.
The Marketplace brings climate-smart agriculture funding opportunities and learning resources together in one location, helping farmers and advisors navigate what has historically been a fragmented landscape.
While the initial launch focuses on access to information and funding opportunities, it also lays the groundwork for a broader system designed to connect environmental outcomes with market demand and investment.
Why this matters
Agriculture is one of the few sectors capable of both reducing emissions and helping remove them from the atmosphere through improved land management practices.
But achieving that potential requires systems that are practical for farmers, credible for buyers, and trusted by investors.
The long-term objective is not simply to create another program.
It is to help build the infrastructure that enables environmental outcomes to be measured, valued, and rewarded – creating new opportunities for farmers while strengthening the resilience of Canada’s food system.
Looking ahead
The Marketplace is only one part of a broader effort underway through CANZA.
As farmer participation grows and measurement systems mature, the alliance is working toward a future where environmental stewardship and farm profitability become more closely aligned.
For AFI, this reflects the kind of systems-level innovation needed to support a more resilient and sustainable food future.