Site will demonstrate how farmers and processors use sustainable practices.Ottawa—Creation of an online website that enables farmers and food processors to explain how they have adopted sustainable production practices is being developed for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) with the help of $560,000 in federal funding over three years.Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said at CFA's recent annual meeting that the Canadian Agri-Food Sustainability Initiative (CASI) “will provide Canadian farmers and processors an online national platform to proactively meet the growing demand for proof of sustainability from customers.”CFA President Mary Robinson said CASI “will provide farmers with an online portal to benchmark their efforts with existing sustainability programs and connect them to potential clients both at home and abroad. The goal is to provide farmers with an efficient avenue to connect with clients who recognize their hard work in sustainability. CASI will also aim to connect farmers to programs that serve as criteria to receive environmental funding.”CFA is working with CASI's lead developers in assembling a governance committee in which value chain representatives will join CFA members in guiding development of the project.Frank Annau, CFA's Director of Environment and Science Policy, said when the site is ready by the summer of 2022, it will provide “a live repository of all the sustainable ahriculture programs in Canada. It will be a single window for data on the sustainability of the Canadian agri-food supply chain.“It will provide a forum where producers and processors can share information and connect with new networks interested in sustainability. This initiative will also serve as a hub to benchmark to the progress of farmers in adapting sustainable practices.”However, the main benefit of it should be in educating both farmers and consumers about the sustainability of the Canadian agri-food industry compared to international standards, he said. “It will show how good we are.” It should help Canadian producers benefit from the rising demand for sustainable sourcing.CASI will be open to all producers and processors to use, Annau said.The site will be using a lot of data developed by the Canadian Agriculture Policy Institute (CAPI) in its studies on farm sustainability developments.In its latest report, CAPI said the farm community needs a network of experts and practitioners to work together in tackling the obstacles to achieving clean growth in future food production.The report is based on ideas and information gathered during three think-tank conversations CAPI conducted across the country during 2017-18.The sustainability network could “link many of the challenges in adopting clean growth, like aligning private and public benefits to boost awareness and the adoption of new technologies, and then presenting suggestions to existing national and international policies and initiatives with sufficient incentives for them to be adopted,” CAPI said.“Essentially this network would integrate science and policy research with industry and business practices and provide policy, innovation, and technology suggestions that would be applicable at the micro-level while also creating a real impact on a national and international scale.”CASI could well become the home for this network.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.