OSC Subproject E: Environment
Environmental stewardship and product branding
The consumer willingness to pay more for organic food relates directly back to the production system and its perceived outcomes. As a result, the branded image of organic is directly linked with perceived benefits that the organic production system offers for the health of humans, animals and the environment.
Canadian organic products must be prepared to compete in an expanding global marketplace, and must be identified as a leading production system consistent with the values of a progressive consumer base. To accomplish this, the impacts of the organic production system must be characterized to allow branding and image development.
This project will emphasize the environmental stewardship associated with organic production, with particular attention on modeling farm scale energy and nutrient efficiency, and global warming potential, as affected by management, and the potential environmental impact of transitioning a sub-watershed to organic production.
The research activities that make up this subproject are:
- Activity E.1: Modeling farm scale energy and nutrient efficiency, and Global Warming Potential, as affected by management
- Activity E.2: Modeling Global Warming Potential (GWP) reductions associated with sub-watershed wide transition to organic farming