Growing pains for the agri-food sector

Canada’s agri-food sector has underachieved for too long. The new federal budget gives the sector the opportunity to reimagine its potential.

Finally, Ottawa wants to make the agri-food sector a place to invest and foster innovation.

The Liberal government aims to increase Canada’s agri-food exports to at least $75 billion annually by 2025 (from $56 billion now) and make our country a trading powerhouse. That target is modest but it’s a start.

Innovation was the overarching theme in the budget delivered last week. Some funding was allocated to genomics research and a modest sum goes to research more broadly. And climate change was mentioned as an innovation driver.

However, the budget document was unclear on how funding could motivate the agri-food sector to better connect what we produce and what consumers want, domestically and abroad. Such connections need to be achieved despite our most significant disadvantage — our Nordic climate.

Most importantly, developing new products for an increasingly diverse consumer base is problematic.

More companies have recently sought innovations. Loblaws, Agropur and a few others have had great progress with fresh programs. Ottawa can act as a catalyst to entice more companies to follow suit.

The budget also puts important focus on logistics and supply chains. Moving products across the country is our greatest challenge to expanding the agri-food sector. More than $12 billion will be invested in gateways, ports, bridges and roads to make trading more efficient. While this isn’t a great sum, it does demonstrate support for agri-food producers.

This follows former prime minister Stephen Harper’s decision in 2005 to invest in the AsiaPacific Gateway and Corridor initiative. The Conservatives drew our attention to Canada’s logistical deficiencies and now the Liberals are continuing the work.

Connectivity is also important. Following the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) recommendation a few months ago, Ottawa intends to invest $500 million to expand rural broadband connections.

This is excellent news for market-savvy farmers. Markets can change in an instant and it’s important to make every trading minute count.