Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Discussion Document

CAPE argues that Canada's Sustainable Agriculture Strategy must move beyond climate change to include a 'planetary health' lens, specifically addressing the health risks of conventional agriculture, the need for pesticide reduction, and the integration of environmental justice and Indigenous rights.

• CAPE asserts that conventional agricultural practices—characterized by monocropping, soil disturbance, artificial inputs, and livestock production—create health risks by reducing the nutrient content of food and applying pesticides at levels unsafe for human consumption.
• The simplification of global agricultural production since the 1960s toward a few energy-dense commodity crops has increased food security risks and contributed to diets associated with noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, adult-onset diabetes, and certain cancers.
• Global agriculture is estimated to operate beyond planetary boundaries in four key areas: land-use systems change, nitrogen flows, freshwater use, and biosphere integrity, with 48.6% of global agriculture exceeding these limits.
• CAPE identifies significant human health harms linked to pesticide use in Canada, including elevated breast cancer risks for women in Ontario's Essex and Kent counties, increased miscarriages and premature births among glyphosate-using farming families, and the presence of pesticides in 98.7% of tested children in Quebec.
• The document highlights the persistence of banned substances, noting that DDT and its metabolites remain detectable in the breast milk of Inuit people in Northern Canada.
• CAPE recommends that the SAS commit to reducing risks from hazardous chemicals by 50%, aligning with the COP15 Convention on Biological Diversity Target 7.
• The organization argues that a sustainable agriculture strategy must incorporate environmental justice and the right to a healthy environment, specifically ensuring the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples regarding actions impacting their lands and 'country foods'.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (2023). Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Discussion Document. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Sustainable-Agriculture-Strategy_-Discussion-Document.pdf#new_tab

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Discussion Document. 2023. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Sustainable-Agriculture-Strategy_-Discussion-Document.pdf#new_tab.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Discussion Document |date=30 March 2023 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Sustainable-Agriculture-Strategy_-Discussion-Document.pdf#new_tab |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironment2023sustainable, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Discussion Document}}, publisher = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Sustainable-Agriculture-Strategy_-Discussion-Document.pdf#new_tab}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }