Poll finds environmentally-sustainable farming important to all Canadian growers

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Jul 23, 2013, 10:00 ET

MISSISSAUGA, ON, July 23, 2013 /CNW/ - According to a recent poll conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of BASF Canada Inc., nearly 100 per cent of Canadian farmers agree an environmentally-sustainable operation is important to them.

The March 2013 herbicide resistance telephone poll included a sample of 500 farmers from Western and Eastern Canada with minimum acreage thresholds.

"If you work in agriculture, these findings are not surprising," says Joel Johnson, Herbicide Brand Manager for BASF Canada. "Farmers are in it for the long haul. And whether you're the innovator, the producer or the consumer, considering the long-term impacts of your operations on the next generation is always top of mind."

Last summer, BASF took to the streets with a film crew and asked average urban consumers for their perspectives on sustainable food production. Consumers were asked two questions: "What does sustainable food mean to you?" and "If you had one question for a farmer that grows your food what would it be?"

More than 120 responses were captured and of those, five consumers got the opportunity to tour a Canadian farm - in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario - and ask their questions first-hand.

"I'm a third generation farmer with an 11-year-old son," says Steve Twynstra, a grower from Ailsa Craig, ON. "That means we want to set up our land and maintain it in a way so hopefully my son, if he so chooses, will want to carry on the family tradition."

Twynstra spent a day on his farm with Gerry Johnston, a registered nurse from London, Ontario, where the two were able to share their perspectives.

Conversations like Twynstra's and Johnston's were captured for the BASF video series on topics related to the different elements of sustainable farming, including: Farming for the Next Generation, Feeding the World, Making a Living, Meeting Consumer Needs, and Managing Risk.

View the videos at www.youtube.com/BASFAgSolutions, the BASF Canada AgSolutions^® channel.

About BASF
BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of €72.1 billion in 2012 and more than 110,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

About the Ipsos poll
The Ipsos Reid poll was conducted between December 10 and 19, 2012, on behalf of BASF. For this survey, a sample of 500 farmers from Ipsos' producers panel was interviewed by telephone. To be eligible for the survey, producers in Western Canada had to grow a minimum of 640 acres of cereal, canola or pulse crops, and producers in Eastern Canada had to grow a minimum of 250 acres of corn and soybeans. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100 per cent response rate would have an estimated margin of error of +/-4.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the specified population of producers in Canada been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error.

SOURCE: BASF Canada Inc.