The Simpson Centre for Agricultural and Food Innovation and Public Education at the School of Public Policy is pleased to announce the generous funding of $1.17 million supplied over two years by the Government of Alberta for the Simpson Centre’s Carbon Program.

The program consists of an applied policy research and outreach project aimed at first understanding where Alberta’s agriculture industry baseline is for carbon emissions from various agriculture products, as well as developing policy recommendations to reduce those emissions, with a key part of the program being the dissemination and outreach aspect of its work.

“The Carbon Program is a fine example of the Simpson Centre acting as the hub for gathering information from diverse stakeholders, asking the right questions, and developing effective policy for today’s policy-makers,” says Dr. Pierre-Gerlier Forest, director and James S. and Barbara A. Palmer Chair, The School of Public Policy.

The Simpson Centre’s work focuses on the numerous social and economic factors that facilitate the success of Canadian agri-food and agri-business. It drives and disseminates research that informs and facilitates public and stakeholder dialogue about agri-food and agri-business issues with a focus on applied policy research related to issues affecting public trust, the future of the industry, and how these issues are managed and communicated. The centre provides a central site of Canadian research that strengthens and supports the growth and sustainability of agri-food and agri-business — especially in western Canada.

The Carbon Program targets a focused area of research for the Simpson Centre that aligns with its Environment and Climate Change pillar, while honouring the key tenet of sustained economic success in Canadian agri-food and agri-business. The program is proposed to fill a research niche that has been studied in many ways in Canada, but which has not, until now, been consolidated, studied as a tool for policy development, and disseminated with public outreach.