NSERC-SSHRC Sustainable agriculture research initiative

Funder’s website

The funder’s website can be found HERE.

Funding Value and Duration

$500,000 to $2,000,000 per year up to 4 years.

Overview

This initiative is a joint effort between the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

Contributions from all economic sectors are required to meet the Government of Canada’s ambitious climate mitigation targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 40–45% below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. In the agricultural sector, Canada has made commitments to reduce emissions from fertilizer use to 30% below 2020 levels by 2030 and to support the Global Methane Pledge by reducing global methane emissions to 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

Agricultural emissions from primary production account for approximately 10% of Canada’s total emissions. Agricultural practices release GHG emissions from biological sources and from the combustion of fossil fuels. Agriculture is also in a unique position to further climate change mitigation by using nature-based solutions that can remove and sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

While some solutions (beneficial management practices and technologies) are available and being developed to help reduce these emissions, improving current production systems will not be enough to meet the long-term ambitious objectives of decarbonizing the economy. In that context, NSERC, SSHRC and AAFC are collaborating to support research to initiate or accelerate the development of transformative innovations, practices, technologies, products, land uses and inputs that will lead to a sustainable, profitable and resilient agriculture and agri-food sector in the uncertain climate and net-zero economy of the future.

Budget 2022 included a commitment for immediate action towards climate mitigation in support of the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Canada’s Next Steps for Clean Air and a Strong Economy to support farmers as partners in building a clean, prosperous future. This initiative will help reinforce, coordinate and scale up Canada’s domestic research capabilities through partnerships between universities, colleges and organizations from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors.

This initiative will fund multidisciplinary, collaborative networks of researchers to address specific research objectives by initiating or accelerating the development of truly transformative solutions, and by mobilizing expertise, technologies and research in social sciences, natural sciences and engineering and in areas that broaden the traditional network of agriculture research partners. With the objective of amplifying long-term adoption, this funding will support both fundamental and applied research to accelerate the knowledge base for transformative alternative practices, technologies, and their adoptions, as well as to build reliable and consistent measurement tools and performance metrics. To significantly increase the speed at which proven technologies and practices are adopted within the sector, proposals should clearly define a plan for knowledge translation and transfer to the sector.

Grant support from this initiative will range from $500,000 to $2,000,000 per year, for four years. NSERC and SSHRC will provide support for 100% of the eligible costs of research. Although partner organizations do not need to provide cash contributions to participate, they must actively play a role in the research project and support it through in-kind contributions.

Applicants are not only encouraged to propose multidisciplinary research teams but to also collaborate with knowledge users (such as agronomists, producers, smart farms, etc.) to support knowledge mobilization.