After the horrors of Ukraine, Canada should aim to be a major player in helping the world meet its future food needs
TORONTO—The Russian invasion of Ukraine is triggering many responses in Canada, including calls for more aid to Ukraine, tougher sanctions against Russia, accelerated welcoming of displaced Ukrainian families, dramatic new defence spending and ways for our oil industry to profit. Some of these responses make great humanitarian and pragmatic sense—such as speeding up the entry […]
Canada’s next agricultural policy framework must promote the uptake of agricultural natural climate solutionsÂ
Farmers are facing increasing drought, flooding, and depleted soils, but there are opportunities we can act on now to support their resilience. And as allies in the fight against climate change, their role in reducing emissions will be vital for meeting Canada’s 2030 goals, as well as fuelling a green economic transition. A peer-reviewed study […]
Stifling lack of competition in meat packing industries
Joe Biden’s State of the Union address this month didn’t get the attention in Canada that a SOTU by a POTUS usually receives, likely because it took place against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and in the wake of Ottawa’s convoy crisis. But the American president’s speech called out, in blunt terms, a […]
Guaranteeing Canada’s food sovereignty
For the last two years, the agriculture and agri-food sectors have been under a great deal of strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic: labour shortages, management difficulties, the scarcity and inflation of inputs, and the unavailability of efficient transportation to and from production sites. These major, complex challenges have far-reaching consequences. That is why the […]
Government needs to listen to itself to help agriculture
Long ago—2018 to be exact—the federal government initiated the Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Economic Strategy Tables, an initiative designed to foster greater collaboration between industry and government and establish growth targets for key economic sectors. Two of those sectors—agriculture and agri-food—was tasked with the ambitious objective of increasing its domestic sales to $140-billion […]
Farmers scramble for alternate fertilizer sources as world looks for Canada’s help in possible global food shortage
Canada cannot afford any further disruptions to its supply chain if the agriculture sector is to contend with a potential shortage of fertilizer as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to agriculture organizations. “We have a window of opportunity where farmers use fertilizer to maximize their crop production and their yields, and if […]
Other countries are rewarding farmers for fighting climate change, it’s time Canada does the same
Recent years have seen a surge in nature-based climate solutions, with the goal of including the agriculture and forestry sectors as partners in the fight against climate change. Popular among them is carbon sequestration (also known as bio-sequestration or carbon farming), a regenerative agricultural practice that captures and stores atmospheric carbon into soil. In Canada, […]
Farmers are fighting battle against climate crisis on the front lines
It is an unquestionable fact that climate change is already all around us, causing profound and detrimental effects on Canada’s agriculture sector. Our hard-working farmers are fighting vanguard battles against the climate crisis. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events is impacting everything from farmers and their bottom line, to feed for livestock, to shortages […]
Canadian ranchers and farmers facing tumultuous times
The world is changing, and Canada has an opportunity to unleash its incredible potential and be a global powerhouse as a reliable, trusted supplier of vital commodities. Now more than ever, it is crucial for Canada to act as a leader and ally and get our agriculture commodities to market to help other countries and […]
Let’s not turn agriculture into a ‘tragedy of the commons’
At a time when all eyes are fixed on the drama unfolding in Europe, the war reminds everyone the necessity of strong and sovereign agriculture in the short term. Globalization did not change the fact that many revolutions start with an inflation of agricultural commodity prices, and that political stability goes hand in hand with […]
