The Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food (CANZA) is looking to sow the seeds for sustainable, regenerative agricultural practices across 365,000 acres of Canadian farmland by 2030 as part of its Million Acre Challenge.

CANZA will offer participating farmers cost-sharing incentives to de-risk the move toward regenerative practices. The organization said it will present an opportunity to reduce the carbon emissions arising from Canada’s agricultural supply chain.

Participating farmers in Ontario’s corn belt will initiate the challenge in 2026. It was supported with $7 million from the Weston family, which owns retailer Loblaw and Choice Properties REIT.

“It’s time to recognize and reward farmers for the value they create – for people, climate, and nature – through regenerative farming practices,” Nick Betts, CANZA’s executive director, said in the announcement. “The Million Acre Challenge is about everyone collaborating together, across the full value chain, to scale these practices on the ground.” 

CANZA is a Toronto-based organization founded in 2023 by Generate Canada in partnership with the Smart Prosperity Institute. Its founders and supporters include Loblaw, Maple Leaf Foods, McCain, Nutrien, RBC, Agropur, the Arrell Food Institute, Co-operators, Metro, Nature United and Telus.

Planting the seeds for regenerative agriculture

The agricultural sector is one of Canada’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The Canadian government says 10 per cent of the country’s climate-warming pollution stems from crop and livestock production, excluding emissions from the use of fossil fuels or from fertilizer production.

CANZA’s Million Acre Challenge aims to tackle the problem with regenerative farming practices that prioritize minimal soil disturbance, biodiversity and effective use of livestock grazing. By keeping soil disturbance to a minimum, less carbon is released.

The initial cohort of the Million Acre Challenge will involve 24 farms. The next step is to have 60 farms involved in the second year, and 180 farms in the third year.

A “wide range of regenerative practices” will be eligible under the program, CANZA said, which recognizes the unique nature of each farm and the need for flexibility.

“Risk is always there in farming. The Million Acre Challenge helps share that risk, so the weight isn’t all on us when we try something new,” Tobias Burgin, one of the participants of the Million Acre Challenge, said in the announcement.

Data validation, outcomes marketplace projects taking place

The challenge will be supported by two simultaneous efforts that will take place in phases over the next six years.

To ensure the regenerative farming practices are resulting in validated outcomes, CANZA is developing a tool and framework for measuring, reporting and verifying the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil. The organization plans to extend its coverage to water and biodiversity metrics.

The other program is to develop an environmental outcomes marketplace. It is designed as a platform and transaction system for the results of regenerative farming practices. Like a virtual farmers’ market, buyers will be able to invest in the “fruits” of sustainable farming such as carbon sequestration, water sustainability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Those purchasers — investors, governments and philanthropists — can invest in the results, driving “a new economic model for regenerative farming practices.”

CANZA’s effort to improve the data collection in the sector follows up on a previous endeavour. The organization supported a pilot project in Saskatchewan to develop the tools and processes that help monitor and estimate the amount of sequestered carbon in soil.

CANZA’s long-term goal is to scale climate-smart agriculture across 14 per cent of Canada’s farmlands by 2050.