Four experts explain how ag retailers can leverage certification, traceability, seed genetics and the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) to improve sustainability, reduce paperwork and unlock new markets.
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Retailers hear the word sustainability and often brace themselves: another audit, another acronym, another checklist.
But what if, instead of treating sustainability as a cost of doing business, you treated it as a strategy — a way to secure market access, manage risk and protect margins?
That was the premise behind a recent panel discussion at the Interprovincial Seed Growers Association meeting in Ottawa, Ont., with four people who live and breathe this topic across the value chain: certification, seed production, exports, policy and government relations. We asked a practical question: how can retailers harness sustainability as a tool to grow their businesses?
“Sustainability” is one of the most used — and least defined — words in agriculture. According to four Canadian ag leaders, the problem isn’t a lack of sustainable practices. It’s a lack of clear, practical definition.
Mike Scheffel admits he started as a sustainability skeptic. With dozens of definitions in circulation, the term had become vague. But digging deeper changed his view. For Scheffel, sustainability is about continuous improvement: producing more with the same or fewer inputs while improving resilience.
That focus on productivity matters, says Roy van Wyk, who has worked extensively with sustainability audits. Early programs like the Round Table on Responsible Soy were designed to address deforestation and labour issues in South America and Europe. Applied wholesale to North America, they often missed the mark. Today, the conversation is shifting toward a more balanced definition — one that includes economic viability alongside environmental and social goals. That balance, van Wyk says, is critical for retailers.
From the grower and exporter perspective, Tim Montague argues that ambiguity is a risk. “If sustainability is fuzzy, define it yourself,” he says. Retailers play a key role in setting that definition. Customers want guidance — and if the industry doesn’t tell its story clearly, someone else will.
That idea shaped the Guide to Sustainable Seed, developed for Seeds Canada. Author Nick Stratford says the goal was not to create another compliance program, but a communications tool grounded in three pillars: environmental, economic and social sustainability. “We wanted something non-prescriptive that reflects what seed businesses are already doing,” he says.
On the ground, most growers already meet buyer expectations through practices like crop rotation, soil conservation and safe handling. The challenge isn’t changing behaviour — it’s proving it. Paperwork, not practice, is where friction arises.
Across the seed sector, sustainability shows up everywhere: breeders improving yields and disease resistance, seed growers stewarding land, conditioners reducing waste and energy use, and retailers providing agronomic advice and long-term support. “Everyone is doing sustainability work,” Stratford notes, “even if they don’t call it that.”
Data backs this up. Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) audits consistently place Canadian farms in Silver or Gold categories. National benchmarking shows Canadian crops often have among the lowest environmental footprints globally — helped by no-till systems, efficient fertilizer use and limited irrigation. But profitability remains essential. Sustainability that undermines farm economics isn’t sustainable at all.
Certified seed and traceability are increasingly central to this discussion. For Montague, who exports identity-preserved soybeans to Asia, they are non-negotiable. Certified seed supports local production, reduces transportation emissions and lowers risk. Van Wyk adds that genetics — from Bt corn to midge-tolerant wheat — deliver major sustainability gains by reducing inputs and improving resilience, yet are often under-recognized in sustainability scoring.
Avoiding “checklist overload” is the next challenge. Programs like FSA work because they benchmark against existing regulations. Alberta’s alignment of Environmental Farm Plans with FSA is a model for reducing duplication and audit fatigue.
Looking ahead, the path forward is clear: use simple, shared language; rely on light-touch, aligned frameworks; and recognize certified seed and genetics as core sustainability tools. Retailers, sitting at the center of the value chain, are uniquely positioned to connect these pieces — and to tell a sustainability story that is practical, credible and rooted in what Canadian agriculture already does well.
