A Coaldale, Alberta, potato grower will step on to the world stage to discuss opportunities in sustainable agriculture at the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in France.
Chris Perry was invited by Pepsico North America to represent growers that produce food for their products, where he will be taking part in a business-related panel and discussion side event scheduled for today.
The discussion is titled “From Field to Market: Leadership and collaboration in U.S. global agriculture.” The presentation will look at current and future opportunities in global agriculture. It is also intended to showcase opportunities for producers and companies involved in the ag sector to support carbon reduction targets while fostering productivity and global competitiveness.
According to the Climate Change Conference website, some of the objectives of the event include:
- Demonstrating the contributions U.S. agriculture is making to greenhouse gas mitigation through best practices from companies and partnerships;
- Discussing barriers to achieving large-scale change and the technology, resources, and policies needed to overcome them;
- Highlighting opportunities for additional impact through collaboration between major companies, growers and their partners in government and civil society.
Perry is a potato grower at Chin Domes and is involved in biogas production and precision agriculture. He has given a number of talks on environmental impact reduction in farm practices.
“Agriculture has a big piece to play in carbon talks,” he said. “It’s basically a panel discussion trying to understand what some of the best practices are for the ag industry.”
Perry said he looks at the opportunity to be at the table for global talks on these issues as a win for all of Alberta, because it allows for more exposure to producers.
“For me, it’s a strategic investment,” he said. “It’s a pretty important piece moving forward and being in touch with consumers and customers on the international stage to have a seat at that table.”
Perry said he was looking forward to the opportunity to share the work being one with agriculture in Alberta.
“We do a pretty darned good job here in Alberta, and I think we need the opportunity to tell that story and take it forward, so we do have our seat at the table and are represented by growers and producers [who] are doing a good job.”
Perry says the UN discusion is the biggest event at which he has ever spoken.
“It’s interesting, because I’m flying a long way to give a talk about carbon,” he said. “It’ll probably be a half-hour session over there.”
He noted the event is more about the ripple effect these meetings can create, which can affect change for the better across the globe.
“On the world stage, it’s pretty significant to be able to tell our story.”
Perry said he was surprised and honored to be selected as a North American representative.
“I thought, ‘holy smokes,’” he said. “We’ve already made a bigger impression than was expected. Opportunities like this don’t come up every day. We do a lot of progressive, leading-edge sustainability on our farm. It’s not always economics-driven.
“Getting a voice on a world stage is really good for Alberta agriculture. We’re one of the breadbaskets of the world.”
Source: The Lethbridge Herald