N.B. Farmers Discuss Effects of Climate Change

Published on November 15, 2018

On Monday, a free workshop hosted by the Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network was held at Sarah Smith’s Sweet Soil Organic Farm, and served as a place for farmers to discuss how climate change has already affected their farms and what they plan to do in the future to adapt.

The past few years has brought unpredictable growing seasons, flooding, and dry spells for New Brunswick farmers.

Sarah Smith held the workshop at her farm, which has been hit with a number of storms over the past several months. Some of the storms caused her to be concerned towards the quality of her crops in storage, due to problems such as a 3 and a half day long power outage.

In an interview with CBC, Smith spoke about the effects of climate change on her farm and farms in her area, saying that the high levels of moisture in the field are causing growing seasons to be shortened.

“The length of the season is sort of compromised,” Smith said.

She was able to get into her field and start planting in mid June, but she said some of the farmers in her area weren’t able to begin planting their fields until late June.

Smith’s workshop served as a platform for helping farmers discuss how they plan to mitigate the effects of climate change, including strategies such as: channelling excess water into irrigation reservoirs, and protecting greenhouses from strong winds by using wind breaks.

“It’s about just seeing what you can do each year to try to mitigate the effects that we have been seeing,” said Smith.

Preparing for Climate Change

As farmers look to prepare for the future effects of climate change, so too can homeowners, multi-unit residential building owners, and business owners. Our Registered Energy Advisors are able to evaluate the energy efficiency of any building - whether that is a residential home, or an expansive industrial facility - and provide the owner with a list of energy-saving modifications or retrofits that they may want to consider, in order of cost-effectiveness.

Efficiency can be improved by a number of methods, but it starts by having a Home Energy Assessment or Airtightness Test in residential applications, and can be evaluated by a computerized Energy Modeling and Building Design for use within industrial and multi-unit building applications.

A single room of a building can be evaluated for air tightness and energy efficiency, meaning that its possible to have varying levels of efficiency or air tightness between different rooms or apartments - each at a level that is specific to the room or tenant’s needs. This is helpful for preventing against unwanted smoke or odours that may pose a health concern to some tenants or homeowners.

By improving efficiency in a building, a number of benefits can be noticed. A well air-sealed and efficient building is significantly easier and more cost friendly to keep comfortable, and air quality can become noticeably cleaner. Efficient buildings also help to reduce the amount of carbon emissions that are released into the atmosphere.

For homeowners in Ontario, our Registered Energy Advisors are able to help your home qualify for the home renovation rebates that are currently available from Enbridge and Union Gas.