'Our environment is collapsing': Manitoba farmer joins agriculture delegation to COP26

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative, entitled Our Changing Planet, to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.

A western Manitoba farmer is among the Canadian delegation attending the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Anastasia Fyk, who operates a farm near Garland, Man., about 300 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, is among seven members of the National Farmers Union travelling to the summit.

"It was a decision that we didn't take lightly," Fyk told CBC News. "Just inherently going to COP isn't good for the environment itself. 

"But the opportunity was presented to us and we decided to take it."

The Conference of Parties (COP), which meets every year, is the global decision-making body set up in the early 1990s to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and subsequent climate agreements. 

• Have questions about COP26 or climate science, policy or politics? Email us: [email protected]. Your input helps inform our coverage.

Fyk decided to go because she feels farmers can play a pivotal role in fighting climate change, even as they feel the brunt of a warming climate.

"Our water security is threatened, along with our ability to produce food," Fyk said.

"We want to share, analyze and learn about solutions to reduce emissions related to food production and processing energy and transportation."

The 2021 growing season for farmers across the Prairies was more of a challenge this year, as many faced extreme drought conditions and hot weather. Insect invasions also ate into the profits of some producers. 

Phasing out the use of fossil fuels — namely nitrogen-based fertilizers — is key, Fyk said, but it's easier said than done.  

"For us to be able to phase fossil fuels out of agriculture, we need government support, because we are just running out of time," she said.

"We can no longer keep using fossil fuels. Our environment is collapsing."

WATCH | CBC's Janet Stewart speaks with Anastasia Fyk ahead of the COP26 summit: 

Fyk believes that might be making some producers reluctant to adopt more environmentally friendly practices. 

"A lot of people are really focused on just surviving financially," she said. "If you if you're not able to survive financially, everything else comes second. 

"Farmers are doing what they're doing in order to survive, because it's been working." 

Her farm has tried to reduce the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers. 

"Buckwheat is one of our main crops and it doesn't like nitrogen at all," she said. "It also is great for times of drought and actually likes dry conditions."

Choosing which crops to plant is part of mitigating the climate crisis, she said.

David Rourke, a farmer near Minto, Man., south of Brandon, said while most farmers are always looking to innovate and conscious of their role as stewards of the land, there is still work to do. 

"We've evolved to a stage where we actually are way better," he said.

"But there's still things that we need to do now that we know that climate change is real."  

Practices like zero till, which reduces diesel consumption, using cover crops, and planting crops that don't require nitrogen fertilizer are all steps farmers can take to help the climate, said Rourke, who wrote the book A Road to Fossil Fuel Free Farming: An Example and a Challenge.

The whole world needs to step up and do more than just talk, he said.

"Why are 200 countries getting together for the 26th time to talk about climate change? It is real," he said.

"I equate it's kind of like everybody's in a big boat and that boat is a beautiful boat and we all like it, but we figure out that it's got a hole in the bottom and it's filling up with water — and that's essentially the use of the fossil fuel."

Fyk hopes to connect with people in agriculture from other countries to find common ground and new ideas when it comes to best practices. 

"I believe as an environmentalist, a farmer, a land steward, it is our our responsibility to do this so that the next generation has healthy soil and is able to live in prosperity," she said.

"It's our responsibility to take care of of this planet for the next generation."