OTTAWA — Egg Farmers of Canada has released its National Environmental Sustainability Tool (NEST), an innovative online tool that empowers Canadian egg farmers to measure, monitor and manage the environmental footprint on their own farm.
“With the growing demand and uses of eggs comes the responsibility to produce eggs sustainably, which is why our nation’s egg sector and our hard-working egg farmers from coast to coast remain committed to continually improving operations and practices and why we invest in innovation and new tools like NEST,” says Tim Lambert, CEO of Egg Farmers of Canada. “The development of NEST is part of our broader, holistic vision of sustainability. As egg farming continues to grow, enabling more sustainable agriculture will continue to play a central role in securing a strong, prosperous future for the industry and for Canada.”
“Innovation is essential to driving new sustainable practices,” says Dr. Nathan Pelletier, Egg Farmers of Canada Research Chair in Sustainability at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. “Egg farmers collect a massive amount of data on energy, feed, and water use, as well as farm operating parameters and conditions. What we’re doing is facilitating the anonymous aggregation of this information so that farmers can see where they fit in the broader spectrum of sustainability performance and consider options to further reduce their environmental footprints. And, in the spirit of continuous improvement, future versions of NEST will include more detailed assessments that also take into account economic considerations and animal welfare data. It’s an exciting time to be part of Canadian agriculture.”
