Twenty years later, Japan fully accepts Canadian beef

Japan is an excellent market for Canadian food exports – sophisticated, well-heeled and discerning. It’s Canada’s third-largest market for agriculture and food overall, and the second largest for beef.

But things went south for Canadian beef some 20 years ago, when a single animal in an Alberta cattle herd was diagnosed with BSE.

Japan, along with many other countries, closed to Canadian beef. It was a dramatic move, but Canada would have done the same thing if the disease had been found in their country.

There didn’t seem to be any middle ground or compromise. A lot of water needed to pass under the bridge, a lot of proof needed to be gathered to show Canada had managed the problem, and to Japan, a lot of time had to pass before Canada could be fully trusted again.

How much is a lot?

Well, in this case, it was 20 years.

Late last month, Japan removed the final restrictions on imported Canadian beef. That move followed several other milestones through the years in which limited access was granted.

The biggest concession occurred in 2019, when Canada was approved for market access for beef from cattle older than 30 months of age.

By that time, exports to Japan had long resumed and climbed to about $200 million. But after 2019, largely due to Canada’s preferential access under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, exports skyrocketed. By last year, the Japanese market for Canadian beef and beef products topped $500 million.

Canada’s beef exporters are among the country’s best at developing markets. And this one means a great deal, practically and image-wise. Japan has stringent standards, after some food safety missteps of its own resulted in deaths there. Access to the Japanese market is a nod that an exporter runs a tight ship.

It’s definitely a win for the Canadian government too, which took a lead role in the negotiations to get full access. Under the new Indo-Pacific Strategy, Ottawa committed to develop

ing economic opportunities for Canada by strengthening its regional partnerships, including with Japan. It clearly succeeded.

And in announcing full market access, the government noted how the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, with the support of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, “has worked tirelessly over the past few years to assert the highest production standards and quality assurance of Canadian beef in order to reopen full access in key markets, like Japan.”

Beef exports play a huge role in helping the country’s trade picture. But while helping arrange access on one hand, Canada’s beef producers say

Ottawa is failing them on farms and ranches by not recognizing their role in environmental sustainability.

Some members of the public point fingers at cattle for contributing to greenhouse gas through methane production. But cattle also fertilize grass in pastures, which sequesters carbon.

Where’s the balance?

Ottawa hasn’t put forward a clear research-based position on this, which is concerning to farmers and ranchers. I suspect our export markets wonder too, given that they are counting on a reliable flow of beef, from a sector that has its government’s full endorsement, publicly and privately.

We’re not there yet.