IT’S AN OPPORTUNE TIME TO GROW AGRICULTURE
Canadian food exporters can benefit from emerging markets, Baljit Singh writes.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian grocery stores were the scene of shoppers stripping the shelves bare in a frenzy to stockpile pasta, beans, flour and meat, along with a year’s supply of toilet paper. Why? Because Canadians momentarily lost confidence in the sustainability of our food supply chains and turned to panic buying.
Our reliance on the agri-food sector is often overlooked. We need food and we head to the grocery store, trusting we will find the carton of eggs, head of lettuce and all the other items on our list. Perhaps it takes a crisis such as the current pandemic for us to appreciate the critical nature of our agriculture industry as both a provider of our daily bread and an essential economic driver.
In May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an aid package of $252 million for Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sectors. But temporary measures such as this are meant to help the agrifood industry survive the current COVID-19 crisis. What the sector needs is targeted investment to ensure it thrives and grows in the long term.
In looking at ways to diversify and strengthen our struggling economy, one sector stands out with enormous potential: the agri-food industry. The way forward requires taking action to both protect and expand a sector that’s critical to both our economic recovery and to ensuring food security.
As a net exporter of plant and animal food products, Canada is among a select group of countries. Exports of Canadian food supplies add to food security, not only at home but in many parts of the world. In the coming years, 2.4 billion more people will enter the middle class, mainly in the Asia-pacific region and Africa, creating a massive opportunity for Canadian food exporters. Tapping into this emerging market would create thousands more high-quality jobs and substantially increase the $134 billion the sector already contributes to the Canadian economy — roughly seven per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), nearly equal to the oil and gas sector. Transforming our agrifood industry requires bold and visionary policies, supported by strategic investments.
How do we rise to the challenge? First, we need clearer policy frameworks to foster greater trust in Canada’s agriculture industry, both at home and internationally. Too many of us have little understanding of where the food on our dinner plates comes from. More programs like the new Simpson Centre for Agricultural and Food Innovation and Public Education at the University of Calgary need to be created. This centre, supported by public policy, veterinary and human health, economics, and other disciplines, aims to drive discussion and innovation of agri-food public policy.
Second, our agriculture and veterinary faculties need a healthy infusion of investment dollars. Why? Canada’s agriculture sector has benefited for years from the outstanding research in plant and soil science, livestock health and disease outbreaks coming from these institutions. New investment in aging infrastructure is essential. This will pay dividends, allowing knowledge leaders a more significant role in driving research for better management of infectious diseases and food safety and advancing digital agriculture technology.
Third, we need a way to drive the commercialization of new technologies created in academic settings. Canadian universities lag behind many developed countries in converting innovations into actual products. Although efforts are being made to speed up this process, a more precise mechanism is needed to connect private and academic sectors, with focused support from governments.
Good examples include a new stream, announced by the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and the Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies, designed to help seed-stage science and technology-based startups in the agriculture and agri-food sectors. The program leverages this region’s strong food and agriculture ecosystem, and new infrastructure such as W.A. Ranches at the University of Calgary. It will give companies the opportunity to connect with world-class scientists, economists, experienced entrepreneurs and business students, with the goal of commercializing and scaling their enterprises. Another example is Ottawa’s superclusters initiative, which invested nearly $200 million to help create the Protein Industries Supercluster. This initiative alone is expected to add nearly $4.5 billion to GDP along with 4,500 new jobs.
Lastly, we need to improve immigration policies to better support our rural communities and address the critical shortage of farm labour. We need a solution that works in the long term, by moving us away from temporary farm workers programs and looking instead to attract newcomers to make their permanent homes in rural Canada. This will require targeted recruitment of immigrants who are committed to working in the agriculture sector, as well as investment to help in the creation of small businesses in rural areas.
At this uncertain moment in time, we have an exceptional opportunity to harness Canada’s natural resources to further develop a sustainable and strong agri-food sector. In so doing, we can create jobs, support our rural communities, assure Canadians of their food supply and feed a growing world.
We need clearer policy frameworks to foster greater trust in Canada’s agriculture industry.