A New Agriculture Product Presented by Norm Ward

EGS are the benefits arising from the ecological functions of healthy ecosystems. Such benefits accrue to all living organisms including plants, animals, not just humans EGS is a new emerging Agriculture product

Unregulated Market Place at One End,where EGS has no Value Partial Market Place With Government as the Only Purchaser of EGS, and partial EGS value Full Market Place with Many Private Purchasers of EGS

Air sheds, watersheds, groundwater, scenic lands, and ecologically important but sensitive ecosystems are widely considered public goods. That is, in an unregulated marketplace, people who pay to consume environmental goods and services are unable to keep those who dont pay from enjoying the benefits of that purchase.

An example of Government treating endangered species as a public good in an unregulated market place. Government dismissed the concept of either a market place or financial compensation to landowners that provided habitat for species at risk and instead used centralized planning with punitive regulation

A market place may be created when EGS services are demanded by society and supplied by public and private landowners. The Alberta Land Stewardship Act passed in 2009 facilitates the creation of market based instruments associated with EGS

Incentives to maintain ecosystems Ecological Gifts Program provides tax credits Tradeable Development Credits Conservation Offsets Conservation Directives Conservation Easements in a capped market place

Grass finished beef Paid access for hunting activities Viewscape – residential clusters surrounded by natural landscape

As in any market place, legislation, regulation and common law provide a framework to operate in Property rights associated with the new EGS agriculture product must be defined and protected

Agriculture will produce products with the highest financial value Traditionally these products are sold into a developed market place with common law that supports ownership of the product, and thus allows agriculture products to be bought and sold with confidence Since the market place for EGS is still developing, high EGS land continues to produces traditional agriculture products with the absence of an EGS value

The market place must be allowed to align the economic and ecological signals

High value traditional oilseed product with low EGS Low value traditional meat product with high EGS

Although canola land may have a lower EGS value it offers 2 or 3 times the return on investment over a natural landscape with a high EGS value Canola is marketed into an established market place which does not include EGS A natural landscape may produce meat products from grazing animals and increasingly will sell EGS associated with the traditional product The difference between the two agriculture products is directly related to land prices

Continued differentiation of the meat protein market now includes products that are –either perceived or real – associated with EGS Natural/ Organic Beef Grass Finished Beef Grass finished pork Grass finished poultry

Functional foods provide health benefits over and above basic human nutrition Omega-3 enriched eggs, milk, yogurt and pork are now available These enriched foods provide basic nutrition but also help protect the heart by potentially lowering blood cholesterol.

Omega 3 fatty acids are formed in chloroplasts of green leaves and algae Grasses and in particular native grass, provide a source of omega 3 fatty acids in beef. When cattle are fed omega 3 deficient grain, they begin losing the store beneficial fat The Canadian government permits the claim- DHA, and Omega 3 fatty acid supports the normal development of brain, eyes and nerves

Some research that indicates a ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 needed for a healthy human diet should be about 4 to 1 Common oils - canola 2:1 - soybean 7:1 - corn oil 46:1 Beef - grass fed 2:1 - grain fed 4:1 to 20:1

CFIA label claims of contains omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids must have 300 milligrams of omega 3 per 100 grams of food Grass fed beef may be able to meet label requirements without supplementation There is a need for a rapid omega 3 test for meat, so that meat and trim can be sorted for maximum omega 3 yield

FEB is functional ecological beef - reflects the functional aspect of omega 3 beef as a food - reflects the functional aspect of the environment the animal was raised in FED is traditional grain finished beef

Functional ecological foods provide a positive outcome for the health of people and the environment This is where people goals, land goals, and with a new market place for EGS, financial goals meet. The market place is starting to align the economic and ecological signals

Landowners who become outfitters and acquire tags are able to charge for guiding non resident hunters Huge potential for landowners with outfitter and tag licences to band together to form a hunting access zone (similar to a hunting zone) Wild game is a direct reflection of a healthy complex ecosystem producing extensive environmental goods and services

As viewscape becomes more important municipal bylaws and provincial regional plans must be realigned to provide for clusters of residential housing with viewscape in between cluster. This may be best handled using tradeable development credits in an open, and competitive market place Viewscape has a market place value

Modifying farming and grazing practices may yield more soil water storage The current market place continuum for EGS puts water storage in an unregulated market and thus a public good Soil water storage can be quantified and this may indirectly provide a measurement indicator for a new market place.

At one end of the continuum we have EGS as a public good and no market place with Species at Risk At the other end we have the beginnings of a market place for EGS, although as indirect one, with FEB cattle, access for hunting, viewscape If we can measure EGS, such as water storage, will a market place develop

The market place must be allowed to align the economic and ecological signals

Self containedTwo miles of turbo rope