Agriculture needs more funding to achieve its climate targets. Ottawa-The federal government needs to put more money into its programs to achieve a sustainable net-zero future for the country, says the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (COC). Canadian businesses have invested in low-emission energy, contributed to a greener grid and increased climate action throughout their supply chains, it said. COC noted that $1 billion of new funding for sustainable agriculture was made available in this year's federal budget distributed between the On-Farm Climate Action Fund, Agricultural Clean Technology program and research and development for net-zero emissions agriculture and resiliency and adaptation. However that is less than half of what the agriculture sector needs to focus on decarbonizing food production including electric tractors, electrifying indoor growing facilities, as well as rethinking livestock production and manure management. “Canada's net-zero plan must be tightly coupled with its economic goals,” COC said. “This will ensure that fulfilling Canada's commitment to contribute to the global fight against climate change and maintaining/improving our standard of living will not be seen as either/or.” This means protecting the competitiveness of Canadian businesses and avoiding the loss of companies to other countries through its net-zero transition plan. “Canada's net-zero plan should deliver an orderly and inclusive transition. This is critical to avoid economic crises and energy crises and to ensure the ongoing support of Canadians for Canada's commitment to net-zero,” COC said. For starters, the government needs to focus on its 2050 net-zero goals rather than short-term measures that may help deliver on 2030 targets but could leave Canada needing to resort to extreme measures in later years. “As Canada moves toward a sustainable net-zero future, the business community is leading the way. Canadian businesses have invested in low-emission energy, contributed to a greener grid and increased climate action throughout their supply chains.” COC and its members believe they have a responsibility to assume a leadership role in making recommendations on climate policy. The Chamber's Net-Zero Council (NZC) is dedicated to advancing business leadership on the climate crisis and aims to inform government policy through numerous channels, including through the federal government's Net-Zero Advisory Body.