Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) has a food security issue due to lack of suitable
agricultural land, short growing seasons, and unsustainable agricultural policies promoting
conventional industrial farming practices, with a limited range of agricultural produce (milk,
eggs and poultry) and no facilities for secondary processing of these. The food security issue
has been exacerbated in the last decades by climate change events (extreme temperatures,
heavy rains and more frequent droughts) which have negatively impacted the province’s
agricultural industry. The conventional industrial agricultural practices and the profit focus of
maximization agricultural policies have contributed to and have intensified several
environmental, social and economic problems. They have as well provided an inadequate
guarantee for food security, as the NL agriculture industry does not secure enough healthy,
fresh, nutritious, and affordable food alternatives for people to live and be healthy. This
research is based on quantitative and qualitative data, collected through surveying both crop
and dairy farmers located in western, central and eastern regions of the Newfoundland and
Labrador province, and through a literature review of peer-reviewed articles, published
government reports and documents and news articles. The research results show that any
attempt to solve the multi-faceted problems of the NL agriculture impacted by climate change
increases the significance of pursuing an agro-ecological approach to farming in the province.
Integrated and small, highly diversified farms are one sustainable alternative to modern
industrial farming, as they can make the current agricultural practices more resilient to global
climate change (GCC), can enhance food security in the province, as well as reduce the
impact of agricultural practices on GCC. This study has found that 100 percent of the crop
and dairy farms production has been affected by two or more natural hazards, such as long
winters/short growing seasons, late spring frost and heavy rains/rain storms, which are the
results of climate change. More interestingly, 56 percent of the farm owners in the study area believe that industrial or conventional farm practices have little or no impact on
environmental degradation or climate change, since they follow the agriculture rules and
guiding principles imposed by the provincial and the federal government of Canada and
apply efficient farm management strategies. In some cases, the soils, chemical fertilizers and
fossil fuels are poorly managed by the farmers surveyed in the study area, but a good
percentage of the farmers are trying to reduce dependency on chemical fertilizers and
pesticides and fossil fuels and at the same time, are trying to increase the use of organic
fertilizers, pesticides and renewable energy. Moreover, the current research has shown that
there are incipient agro-ecological practices in the province, and that farmers are aware about
climate change and the need to adopt more environment friendly farming practices. New
policy frameworks and work plans are needed to speed up the transition from the current
unsustainable farming practices to small-scale, organic, energy efficient and high yielding
agro-ecological practices. Provincial as well as federal government support, and collaboration
among educational and research institutions, agricultural farms, non-government
organizations and the general public will promote agricultural diversification and integration
and more environmentally-friendly farm practices within the province. These will ameliorate
province’s food security issue, by increasing the supply of local fresh and healthy food, will
provide additional financial benefits to the farm holders, as well as protect the local and the
global environment