CANZA (Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food) brings together action-driven problem-solvers from across the agri-food system to accelerate a net-zero future.

The challenge and opportunity

Climate change is a complex and extremely interconnected challenge. From droughts to floods to ice storms–climate impacts threaten the food, fibre and fuel production that Canadians count on. Agriculture is one of the only sectors where we can tackle climate change from two directions. Not only can we reduce agricultural emissions that contribute to climate change. We can also leverage the potential of agricultural lands to remove harmful emissions from the atmosphere, as part of a broader solution.

Seizing this opportunity means advancing innovative practices and technologies that help lower agricultural emissions while embracing climate-positive activities, like sustainable soil management. Critical to all this is supporting and rewarding the role that farmers play by properly valuing the environmental benefits of climate-smart farming in our economy.

This will take collaboration and innovation across the entire agri-food system; CANZA enables this.

Our approach

Providing a platform for pre-competitive, collaborative action and industry leadership, CANZA harnesses the ingenuity, innovation, and existing resources of our agri-food systems to catalyze meaningful progress towards our net-zero goal. That involves aggressively developing, testing, and scaling innovative technologies, championing transformative policies, and helping advance favourable market conditions that incentivize sustainable farming practices.

CANZA currently focuses on two game-changing initiatives: climate-smart farming (embracing technologies, policies and practices with the potential to improve and de-risk agricultural productivity, resilience and returns in ways that can benefit farmers) and scaling the use and uptake of biodigesters (significantly reducing emissions by creating renewable energy, either for selling to the grid or for on-farm use, and nutrient-rich digestate that can enhance crop yields).

CANZA’s work is informed and bolstered by the Smart Prosperity Institute’s land-use, nature, and agriculture research stream. The team collaborates on critical questions like how to credibly quantify and report on the climate-positive impacts of climate-smart farming practices, which is essential to properly valuing environmental benefits.

Contact Nick Betts, Managing Director, for more information: [email protected]

Visit CANZA’s Website