It's time to own the ag podium

Canada’s agriculture industry is good, few would debate that. But we can no longer settle for good when great is achievable. In the midst of a global health and economic challenge the likes of which we have never seen before, there is an urgent need for Canada’s agriculture industry to ‘own the podium’.

We can draw on the Canadian Olympic team’s Own the Podium experience for inspiration. Canada failed to win a single gold medal in the first two Olympic Games it hosted – the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Calgary. The Vancouver 2010 Games saw Canada bring home 14 gold medals, the most of any country.

What changed between the first two Olympics and Vancouver? An unwavering and all-encompassing commitment to success with all the measures needed put in place to enable that success. And in 2010, on home soil, Team Canada owned the podium.

As Canada looks for opportunities to begin pulling itself out of the current economic crisis, agriculture is poised to lead the country’s recovery. The agriculture and agri-food industry contributes roughly $50 billion dollars annually – or about 6.7 per cent – of Canada’s GDP. But this is just the beginning of what the sector is capable of.

Even before the global pandemic hit, thought leaders were pointing to agriculture as an area with a huge potential for growth. A 2019 Royal Bank of Canada report suggested that Canada’s agriculture industry could generate an additional $11 billion for Canada’s GDP by 2030 if the right investments are made in people and technology. This, the report noted, would make the sector more productive than auto manufacturing and aerospace combined.

The Agri-Food Economic Strategy Table also recently set a goal of growing agriculture and agri-food exports to $85 billion by 2025, up from $64.6 billion in 2017, coupled with similarly ambitious goals for increases in domestic sales.

We have so many advantages that position Canada to be a global agricultural powerhouse. We have a large arable land base coupled with a relatively small population. We have access to vast natural resources and we have growers that are quick to adopt new technologies. We have built a strong global reputation as a provider of safe, high-quality food. And we have strong research and development capabilities as well as access to a solid talent pool in areas like biotechnology, chemistry, engineering and artificial intelligence.

But there are challenges, too. We process only about half of what we grow in Canada, which leads in part to a more than $3 billion trade deficit for agri-food products. Our vast country also creates challenges with transportation and getting to market. While we have free trade agreements with many key markets, non-tariff trade barriers are preventing us from taking full advantage of these.

The sector also faces challenges with the adoption of the latest technologies in areas like precision agriculture, that would improve productivity and sustainability, due to inadequate access to high-speed internet in many rural areas.

Both the opportunities and challenges span across the entire value chain and only serve to highlight why we need a comprehensive approach to enabling the agriculture and agri-food sector in Canada from farmers themselves through to input suppliers and the transportation, processing, distribution and retail sectors.

If the industry is going to live up to its full potential, it will take a strong commitment and follow through from senior levels of government. We need to shift from the current piecemeal approach to one that addresses the agriculture industry in a whole-of-government, Team Canada approach. There are countless departments that touch the industry and each must work together towards a common goal.

In these extremely challenging economic times, the government can’t afford not to focus on agriculture as it provides one of the surest ways to help bring Canada out of this economic crisis. Enabling the agriculture industry stands to benefit all Canadians – by creating jobs, encouraging investment and driving economic growth.

Fortunately, for a government that has had to spend at unprecedented levels to protect Canadians during this pandemic, many of the measures needed to support and enable agriculture, such as regulatory reform and the pursuit of and protection of international markets, cost very little but offer enormous potential returns.

Something that has become abundantly clear over the course of the last few months is that the government is capable of acting quickly and decisively in times of crisis. And as it looks for ways to help address the economic challenges before us, I’m hopeful that the government will once again show its ability to be nimble and move quickly.

In 2018, the Economic Strategy Table report set out a vision for Canada to Own the Ag Podium, so to speak, and now is the time to act on it:

By 2025, Canada will be one of the top five competitors in the agri-food sector, recognized as the most trusted, competitive and reliable supplier of safe, sustainable, high-quality agri-food products and an innovator in value-added products to feed the dynamic global consumer.

More than being just an economic driver for Canada, agriculture is a source of pride for this country. It is an industry that has underpinned the success and growth of Canada since its very inception. Canadians have an incredibly high level of confidence in the quality and safety of Canadian-grown food. And we take pride in being able to send the abundance of food we grow around the world to those who need it.

Let’s unite as a country behind agriculture’s drive to the top just as we collectively supported and celebrated our Olympic athletes in their journeys to the top the podium.

Pierre Petelle,
President and CEO, CropLife Canada