The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) in partnership with the Centre for Agri-Food Benchmarking are set to host Canadian Agri-Food in a Sustainable World, a two-day conference to be held on October 2 and 3, 2024 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. The first day (Oct. 2) will comprise of fireside chats and panel discussions to consider tensions, challenges, and opportunities for sustainability in the context of the agri-food sector. The second day (Oct. 3) will be hosted by the Centre for Agri-Food Benchmarking and will focus on rapidly changing ESG (environmental, social, and governance) requirements and what these mean for stepping up sustainability reporting across the agri-food sector with an emphasis on the role that the National Index on Agri-Food Performance may play in enabling this response. In support of CAPI’s mission and vision, the conference aims to convene leaders to advance policy solutions related to sustainability in agri-food. 

Sustainability has many definitions, but it has not been well defined within the context of agriculture and food. Although improving sustainability in the sector may have many opportunities, it can also be seen as a threat to productivity and economic growth. Should agri-food policy be revamped with a sustainability lens to improve both environmental and economic outcomes? This conference will engage leaders to debate the problems that policies are trying to solve and to determine solutions that provide meaningful and relevant action on sustainability. 

To date, the program includes: 

• Darlene McBain, Director, Industry Relations, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) 

• Derek Nighbor, President and CEO, Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) 

• Kate Harrison, Vice-Chair, Summa Strategies Canada 

• Timothy Kennedy, President and CEO, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance 

• Nick Betts, Managing Director, Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food (CANZA) 

• Rory McAlpine, Board Member, CAPI 

• Tyler McCann, Managing Director, CAPI 

• David McInnes, Executive Director and Founder, Centre for Agri-Food Benchmarking  

Session descriptions, schedules, and registration are now available on the event webpage. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information on conference speakers and sponsors. Register today.