Book 2 - Overviews of the department and the sector

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is a federal organization of approximately 5,100 employees based across Canada who support our world-leading agriculture and agri-food sector.

AAFC's annual budget is over $3.4 billion with our main areas of focus being science and innovation, trade and market growth, and risk mitigation and management.

AAFC is at the centre of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Portfolio which includes the Canadian Dairy Commission, the Canadian Grain Commission, the Farm Products Council of Canada, Farm Credit Canada, and the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal. We also work closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

To achieve our mandate, we must collaborate with partners and stakeholders:

• other federal departments;
• provinces and territories;
• Indigenous communities and organizations;
• international organizations
• academia;
• organizations representing:
  • producers;
  • processors;
  • consumers; and
  • civil society.

AAFC's national and international presence

• 5,101 total employees (not including 250 casual employees and 600 students)
• Over 2,500 employees based in research centres across the country
• Over 2,150 at headquarters in Ottawa
• Over 400 working at headquarters in Winnipeg
• AAFC has 30 Locally Engaged Staff and 10 Canada-Based Staff abroad in Canadian embassies/consulates/missions internationally through an agreement with Global Affairs Canada.

AAFC's strong regional and international presence allows for high quality intelligence, analysis and engagement on regional agricultural conditions, key issues and supply capacity.

To learn more about the science and research activities conducted at each location: Facilities: Directory of scientists and professionals (science.gc.ca)

Core areas of responsibility and spending

AAFC's annual budget is over $3.4 billion — a mix of voted and statutory funds.

• AAFC tracks plans and results in three core areas of responsibility: Market Growth, Science and Innovation and Risk Mitigation.
• More than three-quarters of the budget is dedicated to grants and contributions programs, which provide direct support to the sector.
• Business risk management (BRM) programs, which fall under sector risk (for example, AgriStability, AgriInvest), and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership programming, which spans all areas of responsibility, are a significant expenditure.

AAFC branches and leadership team

Deputy Minister (DM) and Deputy Minister's Office (DMO)

Deputy Minister — Stefanie Beck
Associate Deputy Minister — Suzy McDonald

• DM is main advisor to Minister and DMO is main liaison with Minister's Office
• Corporate Secretariat provides support in the areas of parliamentary affairs, portfolio coordination, appointments, correspondence, governance and administration.

Strategic Policy

Steve Jurgutis (acting)

• Economic and environmental research and analysis, strategic planning, policy development, intergovernmental affairs, Cabinet affairs.

Programs

Liz Foster

• Design and delivery of a full range of grants and contribution and other programs.

Science and Technology

Gilles Saindon and Andrew Goldstein

• Wide range of agriculture and agri-food research, development and technology transfer activities at 20 research centres and sites.

Market and Industry Services

Tom Rosser

• Trade negotiations, market information and analysis, sector engagement, regional intelligence, and emergency management.

International Affairs

Kathleen Donohue

• Market development, implementation of trade agreements, addressing market access and regulatory trade issues.
• Branch has both AAFC and CFIA employees.

Public Affairs

Mary Dila

• Strategic communications, media relations, marketing, social media, public opinion research, translation, and other services.

Information Systems

Vidya ShankarNarayan

• Information technology and information management support for internal and external programs and services.

Corporate Management

Marie-Claude Guérard

• Finance, planning and reporting, security, assets, human resources and other corporate services.

Office of Audit and Evaluation

Kimberly Saunders

• Audits and evaluations.

Legal Services

Kristine Allen

• Shared between AAFC and CFIA.

The broader agricultural portfolio

The Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Portfolio includes AAFC and five other organizations:

• Canadian Dairy Commission
• Canadian Grain Commission
• Farm Products Council of Canada
• Farm Credit Canada
• Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal

Each organization provides important services to support the sector and Canadians, through legislative/regulatory functions, financial services and broader industry engagement.

Ultimately, the Minister is responsible to report to Parliament and Canadians on the activities of the department and portfolio.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reports to the Minister of Health. CFIA is not part of the Portfolio but works closely with AAFC. The Minister is responsible for the activities of CFIA that do not relate to food safety.

As part of the Corporate Management Branch, the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency is a special operating agency/revolving fund within AAFC that regulates and supervises pari-mutuel betting (a unique pool-betting system) in Canada on horse races. This agency ultimately benefits the public interest through ensuring pari-mutuel betting is conducted in a way that is fair to the public.

Portfolio organizations and leadership

While each organization has its own Deputy Head, the Deputy Minister is responsible for advising the Minister on all matters under the Minister's responsibility and authority.

Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC)

Benoit Basillais, CEO
Jennifer Hayes, Chair

• Headquartered in Ottawa, on the Central Experimental Farm, the CDC is a Crown Corporation that helps manage Canada's dairy industry, including support prices and quota under the supply management system for dairy.
• The CDC has 73 employees and an annual budget $16.8 million.

Canadian Grain Commission (CGC)

Doug Chorney, Chief Commissioner

• Headquartered in Winnipeg, the CGC regulates grain handling in Canada and establishes and maintains science-based standards of quality for Canadian grain.
• The CGC has 485 employees across the country and an annual budget of $71.84 million.

Farm Products Council of Canada (FPCC)

Brian Douglas, Chair

• Headquartered in Ottawa, on the Central Experimental Farm, FPCC provides oversight of the national supply management agencies for poultry and eggs, and supervises national promotion and research agencies for farm products.
• The FPCC has 16 employees and annual budget of $3 million.

Farm Credit Canada (FCC)

Justine Hendricks, CEO
Jane Halford, Board Chair

• Headquartered in Regina, FCC is a financially self-sustaining federal Crown Corporation that provides financing to agricultural customers.
• FCC has 2,300 employees operating from 102 offices across Canada. FCC's current lending portfolio is over $47.9 billion in loans, providing funds to close to 102,000 customers across Canada.

Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal (CART)

Emily Crocco, Chair

• Headquartered in Ottawa, CART is an independent tribunal providing impartial review of cases brought by those charged with bringing animal or plant products into the country without permission, or failing to meet standards for humane transport of animals.
• CART has one full-time chairperson and three part-time members. The Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC) provides registry, legal, and adjudicator support.

Legislative authorities and shared jurisdiction

AAFC and the Portfolio administer over 30 federal Acts related to agriculture and agri-food.

• The Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Act says the Minister is responsible for: "agriculture; products derived from agriculture; and research related to agriculture and products derived from agriculture including the operation of experimental farm stations". The Act enables the department to support the sector from the farm through all phases of producing, processing and marketing of agriculture products to consumers in Canada and in global markets.
• Some other key Acts include the Farm Income Protection Act; Canadian Agricultural Loans Act; Agricultural Products Marketing Act; Safe Food for Canadians Act. These allow AAFC to deliver agricultural financial programs, marketing statutes, standards and regulations that ultimately contribute to the sector's performance and safety.

Section 95 of the Constitution identifies agriculture as a shared jurisdiction in Canada. A high level of engagement is required between AAFC and the provincial and territorial governments in order to develop and deliver policies and programs that effectively support the sector across Canada.

Five-year federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) policy frameworks define the manner, purpose, and context in which governments work together on agricultural issues. Much of AAFC's work and spending falls under the framework.

Looking ahead: Key departmental priorities

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership

Successfully implement the new five-year agriculture framework in collaboration with provinces and territories to achieve environmental, economic and social objectives.

Environment and climate change/Sustainable Agriculture Strategy

Support the efforts of farmers to reduce emissions (including fertilizer emissions), build resilience in the fight against climate change, and enhance sustainable agriculture.

Canada Grain Act modernization

Modernize the Canada Grain Act to ensure it protects producers and meets the needs of the sector now and in the future.

African swine fever

Continue to work with industry and provinces and territories to prevent African swine fever from entering Canada and prepare for a potential outbreak.

Pesticides

Support the transformation of the pesticide regulatory system and the development and adoption of alternative pest management solutions.

Business Risk Management

Continue work with provinces and territories to review and update business risk management programs.

Supply managed sectors

Continue to help drive innovation and growth in the supply-managed sectors and fulfill commitments to address the impacts of recent trade agreements— that is, Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Canada—United States—Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Supply chains and transportation

Work with key partners to strengthen and improve the resiliency of food supply chains.

Retail fees and Grocery Sector Code of Conduct

Develop targeted solutions to mitigate the impact of new retail fees on the food value chain, including the development of a Grocery Industry Code of Conduct.

Agricultural Labour Strategy

In collaboration with partners, identify and implement strategies to improve the sector's access to labour.

Export of live horses

Ban the export of live horses for slaughter.

Food Policy renewal

Renew the Food Policy for Canada to increase food security and ensure that Canada's food systems are resilient and innovative, sustain our environment, and support our economy.

• Total AAFC employees: 5,101
  • (43% work in National Capital Region)
• Approximate annual budget: $3.4 billion

2023-2024 budget

• Operating: $640.9 million
• Capital: $39.9 million
• Voted grants and contributions: $855.5 million
• Statutory: $1,900.3 million
• Total: $3,436.5 billion

AAFC research and development centres and offices

• Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut: Whitehorse
• British Columbia: Agassiz, Summerland, Burnaby
• Alberta: Lacombe, Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton
• Saskatchewan: Saskatoon, Swift Current, Regina
• Manitoba: Brandon, Morden, Winnipeg
• Ontario: Harrow, London, Guelph, Jerseyville, Ottawa
• Quebec: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Sherbrooke, Saint-Hyacinthe, Montréal, Québec
• New Brunswick: Fredericton, Moncton
• Nova Scotia: Kentville, Truro, Halifax
• Prince Edward Island: Charlottetown
• Newfoundland and Labrador: St. John's

Improving food systems through the Food Policy for Canada

• Advance the Food Policy by coordinating efforts across the food system to improve social, health, environmental, and economic food-related outcomes

Domestic and international markets

• Support sector competitiveness at home and abroad
• Increase export opportunities for the sector by maintaining and expanding access in key markets

Science and innovation

• Conduct collaborative scientific research with industry, Indigenous groups, other governments and departments, academia, and international partners
• Develop new knowledge/technologies and transfer them to the sector
• Work with industry and other partners to strengthen the sector's capacity to develop and adopt innovative practices, products and processes
• Enhance environmental performance and sector resiliency to the effects brought on by climate change

Sector risk

• Work to mitigate production risks, environmental impacts, and financial/market issues
• Support the sector to develop systems, standards and tools to manage risks

Portfolio partners

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is responsible for all organizations in the Agriculture and Agri-Food Portfolio.

• Canadian Dairy Commission
• Canadian Grain Commission
• Farm Credit Canada
• Farm Products Council of Canada
• Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal

While not part of the portfolio, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is responsible for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's non-food safety activities, including economic and trade issues, and protecting consumer, animal and plant health.

The agriculture and agri-food system touches all Canadians and communities in Canada.

Key players in this system:

• Producers (primary agriculture)
• Processors
• Food retailers and wholesalers
• Foodservice providers

It is part of a broader supply chain, which includes:

• Input and service suppliers
• Transportation providers
• Consumers, at home and abroad

Primary agriculture

Canada has over 62 million hectares (154 million acres) of agricultural land concentrated primarily across the Prairies and Southern Ontario.

Between 2018 and 2022, the three prairie provinces accounted for an average of 53.9% of total cash receipts, including 67.6% of crop receipts and 32.4% of livestock receipts.

Some provinces are more diversified than others. Primary agriculture's contribution to provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP) varies across Canada.

Source: Statistics Canada

Source: Statistics Canada

Most Canadian producers have seen solid growth over the past decade

• Farm market receipts grew 5.6% annually (between 2012 and 2022) and reached a record high of $87.7 billion in 2022.
• The largest value growth came from grains and oilseeds, which at $34.8 billion accounted for 40% of total farm market receipts in 2022.

Source: Statistics Canada

Notes

"Pulses and Special Crops" denotes dry peas, dry beans, lentils, chickpeas, mustard seed, canary seed, and sunflower seeds.

Numbers may not add to total due to rounding.

• For primary agriculture, net cash income (NCI) reached a new record of $22.9 billion in 2021, despite the challenges of COVID-19, rising input prices and the western drought.
• In 2022, NCI modestly declined to $22.5 billion due to further increases in key input prices and expenses which outpaced gains in receipts.

Source: Statistics Canada

Food and beverage processing

The food and beverage processing sector is the largest manufacturing sector in Canada in terms of both GDP and employment. Nearly 8,000 food processing and beverage businesses provide direct jobs for over 323,200 Canadians, employing more Canadians than the entire transportation equipment manufacturing sector.

The processing sector uses 42% of Canada's primary production and supplies 75% of all processed food and beverage products in Canada.

In 2022, 95% of food and beverage processing establishments were small operations (0 to 99 employees) with little variation across sub-industries. Processing plants are located across the country but primarily located in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, which account for 77% of total food and beverage processing establishments.

Source: Statistics Canada and AAFC calculations

Source: Statistics Canada and AAFC calculations

Notes

Typically AAFC reports on food and beverage processing sales together; however, beverage processing data is excluded due to confidentiality provisions in the Statistics Act.

1. And specialty food manufacturing.
2. Includes snack food, coffee and tea, flavored syrup and concentrates, seasoning and dressings and all other food manufacturing.

Wholesalers, food retail and foodservice

Wholesale is divided into farm products and food, beverage and tobacco products

In 2022, sales of farm products at wholesale reached over $17 billion while food, beverage and tobacco products at wholesale reached $129 billion in sales, a year-over-year increase of 13% and 3%, respectively.

The Canadian food retail sector is highly concentrated

The top three traditional food retailers (Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro) and the top two general merchandise retailers (Walmart and Costco) accounted for about 74% of total grocery sales in 2021.

Large chains dominate in each region of Canada.

Independents (for example, cooperatives and single stores) are most common in Western Canada and Ontario but are still outnumbered by the large chains.

Smaller retailers tend to serve remote and northern communities (for example, co-ops).

Foodservice sales have been impacted by COVID-19 in recent years

In 2022, total foodservice sales reached $83 billion, up $17 billion from 2021, and eclipsed that of 2019 by $6 billion. The easing of public health restrictions due to COVID-19 in 2022 compared to 2021, as well as increased delivery and take-out options, have supported the year-over-year improvement.

Limited-service or quick-serve (for example, take-out) eating places, represented $38 billion in sales, up 13% from 2021 and surpassed 2019 levels by over $4 billion. Quick-serve sales were least affected by the pandemic and recovered fastest.

Sales at full-service restaurants ($36 billion) and special food services ($6 billion) which includes caterers and mobile food services, were up 37% and 50% from 2021, respectively; while the former exceeded 2019 levels by 6% and the latter remained 6% below due to continued public health restrictions.

Overall, the system felt the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic…

…but still ensured Canadians had reliable access to food

COVID-19 had a significant impact on the food system. These challenges highlighted a number of structural and systemic issues within Canada's agri-food system, including:

• The strong interdependencies between all players of the agriculture and agri-food system;
• Concerns for the self-sufficiency of Canada's domestic agriculture and agri-food system; and
• The need for better data and analytics and importance of intergovernmental collaboration.

Despite these challenges, Canada's agriculture and agri-food system GDP increased by 7% in 2022 from 2021 and some sub-sectors' GDPs have surpassed pre-pandemic GDP.

Source: Statistics Canada, Table 36-10-0434-01

Food price inflation outpaced overall inflation in 2022

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 6.8% on an annual average basis in 2022, following gains of 3.4% in 2021 and of 0.7% in 2020. The increase in 2022 was a 40-year high, the largest increase since 1982 (+10.9%).

Grocery price increases (+9.8%) outstripped the overall CPI in 2022.

• Grocery prices rose at the fastest pace since 1981 (+12.0%), after increasing 2.2% in 2021.

Source: Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0005-01

Source: Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0005-01

The sector has remained resilient in the face of severe drought, rapid inflation and the invasion of Ukraine

Dry conditions began in 2020 and persisted through the winter. The hottest and driest part of the season occurred during critical crop development stages, which amplified the impact. The situation in July/August 2021 represented the largest and most severe drought conditions in the last 70 years.

Despite the Western drought, continued COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions, and rising input costs, NCI rose significantly in 2021 by over 30%, thanks to robust crop and livestock commodity prices which lifted receipts higher, exceeding the increase in farm expenses.

Expenses continued to rise in 2022, as Russia's war against Ukraine led to aggressive increases in key input prices, in particular for fertilizer, fuel and feed. While receipts also saw strong growth in 2022 as prices of many commodities increased, the sector saw a small decline of 2% in NCI in 2022, as growth in expenses exceeded that of receipts.

The sector entered 2022 facing higher inflation as a result of robust global demand recovery amidst persistent supply-chain issues from the pandemic.

Positioning the system for sustainable economic growth

Canada has some key advantages that can help make it a leader in food production and processing:

• Abundant land and water resources
• Access to international markets
• Strong research and development capacity
• Strong global reputation as a trusted supplier of safe, top-quality food
• Strong stewards of the land

Targeted action moving forward can help the system continue to capitalize on opportunities well into the next decade and beyond.

• There is an opportunity to draw on lessons learned from the pandemic and capitalize on the strengths of the Canadian agriculture and agri-food system that were recognized before and still remain:
  • Canada's Economic Strategy Tables and the Royal Bank of Canada's Farmer 4.0: agriculture could add as much as $11 billion to Canada's GDP by 2030.
• Over $1.5 billion in recent funding to environmental and climate change programming will boost Canada's capacity for sustainable production.
  • Agricultural Climate Solutions, Agricultural Clean Technology, the Resilient Agricultural Landscapes Program and cost-shared agri-environmental programming.

Canada remains a competitive global force — strong and growing

From 2012 to 2022, exports of Canadian agriculture, agri-food and seafood products increased by 94%, reaching a record high of $92.8 billion in 2022.

In 2022, Canada was ranked the fifth-largest exporter of agriculture, agri-food and seafood in the world, behind the EU-27 block of countries, United States, Brazil, and China.

Exports of agricultural and agri-food commodities are projected to drop slightly over the short term as commodity prices are expected to decline from their current historical peaks. But steady growth is expected to resume over the medium term.

The total value of agriculture and agri-food exports, including fish and seafood, is projected to reach $105 billion by 2032.

Source: AAFC Medium Term Outlook, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Statistics Canada

Continued growth will require overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities

Challenges include:

• Effects of climate change with severe weather events (for example, drought, floods, fires) impacting production.
• Volatility in global trade
• Challenges securing labour
• Taking greater efforts towards sustainability, including climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Need for sustained investment in agricultural research, combined with adoption of emerging technology
• Strained retailer-supplier relationship
• Potential negative impact of animal disease outbreaks (such as African swine fever and avian influenza) on domestic production and trade
• Impact of rapid food price inflation on food affordability for Canadians

Opportunities include:

• Taking advantage of free trade agreements and expanding into new markets
• Regulatory agility to help the sector realize its growth potential
• Development of safe new products and sustainable production systems can lead to competitive advantages (for example, seed varieties, plant-based proteins, vertical farming systems, biomaterials)
• Increased demand for Canadian products by meeting consumer expectations for sustainability
• Extracting more value from our primary agriculture production and support food processing in pursuing new or emerging opportunities to diversify their operations
• A Grocery Code of Conduct is expected to improve transparency, predictability and fair dealing in supplier-retailer relationships, which will have positive effects across the supply chain and ultimately benefit consumers as well

The agriculture and agri-food system holds great promise and potential

According to some analysts, agriculture and agri-food is one of the sectors with the highest economic growth potential in Canada.

Canada's key advantages can make us a leader in sustainable food production and processing.

Demand is growing for the kinds of food that Canadian producers and processors can deliver.

Canada's reputation for environmental stewardship can lead to increased demand/price for its products.

Opportunity for Canadian agriculture to make a significant contribution to meeting Canada's climate goals and contribute to more globally sustainable agriculture.

Taking advantage of these key opportunities will ensure the system is competitive, sustainable, resilient and prosperous well into the future.

Canadian agriculture is a growing and prosperous sector

As a whole, the agriculture and agri-food sector is a driver of economic growth.

• From 2011 to 2022, revenues have steadily increased, reaching record levels in 2022.
• However, the sector has evolved significantly over time, and there is a wide variance in farm operations across Canada.

Source: Statistics Canada

Farms are becoming larger and fewer

There are half the number of farms today compared to 50 years ago, while Canada's total farmland area has remained fairly constant, at about 6% of all land.

New technologies and production practices continually increase farmers' productivity and encourage farms to become larger and more efficient.

Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, AAFC calculations

Despite consolidation, many smaller farms remain

Almost half of all farms counted in farm data are small operations, many of which are hobby farms and represent only a small share of total agricultural production or income.

At the same time, the largest 10% of farms generate about two thirds of all agricultural revenues.

• The largest 1% of farms, alone, generate more than one quarter of revenues.

Source: Statistics Canada, Agriculture Taxation Data Program, AAFC Calculations

Revenue is used as proxy for farm size, given a wide range of farm types (for example, crop production, animal production, mixed farm) and that some farms do not rely on significant land base (acreage) for production.

Farm size differs depending on farm type

Source: Statistics Canada, Agriculture Taxation Data Program, AAFC calculations

• Potato, hog and supply-managed (dairy and poultry) farms tend to be medium- and large-sized commercial operations.
• In contrast, other farm types (for example, fruit and cattle farms) tend to be smaller since their production, more than other commodities, lends itself to part-time farming.

Many farm families combine farm and non-farm income

Families with small farming operations rely heavily on non-farm income sources — the farm provides in-kind benefits and some tax advantages.

Equity in farm assets can assist producers in managing financial risks (for example, credit options, access to loans).

Source: Statistics Canada and AAFC calculations

Variety of agricultural production and farms

Producers have to make daily production and financial decisions to manage the various risks they face and remain profitable.

There are significant differences in the challenges that individual producers face, depending on:

• The commodities they produce;
• The size of their operation; and
• Regional differences.

Together, farms of all sizes contribute to Canada's productive agriculture sector, to local and global food, as well as to land stewardship and regional vitality.

To reflect the reality of producers on their farms, the following sections profile the different types of farms in Canada.

Grain and oilseed producers

• 60,000 farms
• Sales totalled $39 billion, or 44% of all 2022 market receipts
• Record high sales prices in recent years have fueled significant growth.

Grain and oilseed farms are found in all regions of the country:

• However, the Prairies constitute 76% of grain, oilseed and pulse production; the most important crop by value is canola, followed by wheat and barley,
• Corn and soybeans dominate in Ontario and Quebec.

Grain and oilseed farms range widely in size, from small part-time farmers to very large businesses with sales of $6.5 million and more.

The Prairies have seen significant recent investment projection in canola crushing capacity, partly in response to biofuel demand.

Main risks/challenges

• Prevalence of drought conditions since the 2021 drought.
• Ensuring good transportation conditions to export markets throughout the fall, winter and spring.
• Exposure to global markets and price fluctuations.

Cattle producers

• 38,000 farms
• Sales totalled $12 billion, or 14% of all 2022 market receipts
• The largest 1% of cattle farms account for almost half of the sector's total production

Cattle farms are found in all provinces; however, about 60% of Canada's $12 billion revenue is reported in Alberta.

Cattle farms differ in size and type of production.

Cow-calf farms tend to be medium-sized family operations that keep beef cows on pastures and sell calves that will move through the production system to backgrounding lots and feedlots.

About one third of Canadian beef production is exported, with the majority of exports destined for the United States.

95% of beef slaughter capacity in Canada resides with four companies.

Main risks/challenges

• Impacts of 2021 drought (water and feed availability)
• Efforts to increase sustainability of production, and traceability of products
• Slaughter capacity

Hog producers

• 2,300 farms
• Sales totalled $6.5 billion, or 7% of all 2022 market receipts.
• More than one third of hogs are produced on processor-owned farms

Most of Canada's hog farms are in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.

Hog production includes both independent producers and production owned by processing companies. The largest 1% of hog farms account for 31% of total production, with average sales of $45 million.

Some hog producers are specialized, that is, keeping sows to produce piglets (wieners) or raising piglets to market weight.

Other hog farms are "farrow to finish," that is, they operate the full cycle of raising sows, producing piglets, and raising them to slaughter hogs.

The largest four companies represent 72% of slaughter capacity in Canada.

Main risks/challenges

• Risk of African swine fever
• Sufficient processing capacity and access to foreign markets
• Issues with public trust (for example, animal welfare, antibiotic use)

Dairy producers

• 9,700 farms
• Milk sales totalled $8.2 billion, or 9% of all market receipts
• Dairy farms in Quebec and Ontario account for 70% of all dairy production with revenues of $6 billion

Approximately half of Canada's dairy farms are in Quebec, another third in Ontario.

The total asset value of dairy farms varies with farm size.

Quebec dairy farms are on average smaller, with a herd size of around 66 cows and can have assets of approximately $3 million.

Ontario farms have an average herd of 85, with dairy farms in British Columbia and Alberta averaging 144 cows and assets of up to $12 million.

With or without robotic milkers, dairy farming requires a significant amount of daily, year-round labour, and most dairy farmers are full-time operators.

Dairy farms operate under the supply management system, with milk prices set based on cost of production, generally resulting in no price fluctuations.

Main risks/challenges

• Challenges with market access provided under new trade agreements (CETA, CUSMA).
• Potential declines in domestic demand for dairy products from increasing competition from plant-based protein products.

Poultry and egg producers

• 4,400 farms
• Poultry and egg sales totalled $5.9 billion, or 7% of all market receipts
• Quota represents on average 50% of the farm assets of poultry and egg farms.

Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia account for more than three quarters of all poultry and egg farms and their total production.

Poultry and egg farms are usually specialized and produce only one of the following: broilers (meat chicken), turkeys, pullets (young hens), eggs, or hatching eggs.

Raising broilers takes 6 to 8 weeks and is highly automated.

Egg production requires daily collection and sorting, even if partly automated.

The largest 1% of poultry and egg farms account for 23% of total production, with average sales of $23 million.

Production is under supply management, except for raising of pullets.

Main risks/challenges

• Challenges with market access provided under new trade agreements (CETA, CUSMA).
• Imports of spent fowl (old laying hens) which impacts domestic supply.
• Addressing anti-microbial resistance and pathogen reduction.
• Issues with public trust (for example, animal welfare associated with production methods).

Fruit and vegetable farms

• 7,600 farms
• Fruit and vegetable sales totalled $3.6 billion, or 4% of all market receipts
• Fruit and vegetable farms are one of the main agricultural employers

Ontario farms are responsible for one third of the sector's $3.3 billion in revenues, with Quebec and British Columbia farms being big contributors.

The largest 1% of fruit and vegetable farms are responsible for 28% of the sector's revenues, with average sales of $5.7 million.

Fruit and vegetable farming is seasonal and labour intensive; horticulture accounts for 45% of all paid employees in primary agriculture and 85% of seasonal agricultural temporary foreign workers in Canada.

Main risks/challenges

• Challenges securing seasonal labour and reliance on temporary foreign workers
• Strong competition for exports (two-thirds of production), as well as from imports
• Impacts of adverse weather and price fluctuations

Potato farms

• 800 farms
• Potato sales totalled $1.7 billion, or 2% of all market receipts
• Farms are reliant on demand from processors and the food service industry, as seen during COVID-19

Prince Edward Island potato farms are responsible for about a quarter of potato production in Canada, followed, not far behind, by Manitoba and Alberta farms.

About 65% of potatoes are grown for processing, another 20% are table potatoes, and 15% are seed.

Potato farms in the Atlantic provinces tend to be smaller than those in the Prairies.

The largest 1% of potato farms generate about 12% of the sector's total production, with average sales of $15 million and an average asset value of $51 million, largely in land and equipment.

Main risks/challenges

• Public trust associated with environmental impacts
• Utilizing innovation in production management to reduce pesticide use
• New variety development required

Greenhouse operations

• 2,200 farms
• Greenhouse sales totalled $2.2 billion, or 3% of all market receipts
• Greenhouse production: the fastest-growing sector of Canadian agriculture

The majority of greenhouse farms are in southern Ontario; the remaining third operate in British Columbia and Quebec.

Production is focused on peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers.

While a number of small greenhouse farms exist, the majority of production happens on farms with $5 million in revenues or more.

The largest 1% of farms generated 32% of total production, with average sales of $20 million and assets of $28 million.

Greenhouse farms do not require a large land base, with the most significant investment being in greenhouse technology.

Main risks/challenges

• Challenges securing seasonal labour and reliance on temporary foreign workers
• Ability to innovate and refine production management to reduce pesticide use, energy use, and increase automation

Evolving farm demographics

With the consolidation of farms, the number of farm operators has also declined over the past three decades, by 33% to 262,470 as of 2021.

The share of farm operators 65 years or older continues to increase; as farmers tend to retire later than other Canadians.

Women, Indigenous persons, and visible minorities are underrepresented among farm operators.

• The share has increased marginally over the past 30 years.

Consideration for renewal is growing.

• Access for new entrants.
• Facilitating intergenerational transfers.
• Need for diversity, including recognition of Indigenous practices.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: Overview of the sector

Agriculture and agri-food is a major contributor to the Canadian economy.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is mandated to support primary agriculture and food and beverage processing, but the sector reaches into the broader agri-food system, which influences other service sectors across the food supply-chain.

The agriculture and agri-food system (2022 data)

Primary agriculture

• GDP: $36.3 billion (1.8%)
• Employment: 249,900

Food retail and wholesale

• GDP: $32.8 billion (1.6%)
• Employment: 684,200

Inputs and services suppliers

• GDP: $14.3 billion (0.7%)
• Employment: 95,000

Foodservice

• GDP: $26.7 billion (1.3%)
• Employment: 907,200

Food and beverage processing

• GDP: $33.7 billion (1.6%)
• Employment: 323,200

In 2022, the primary agriculture and food and beverage processing sectors:

• Employed 573,100 people
• Accounted for 3.4% of Canada's GDP
• Provided 1 in 34 jobs in Canada

Primary agriculture

An economic driver highly diversified across the country

• 189,874 farms
• Farms cover 62.2 million hectares or 6.3% of Canada's land area
• Concentrated across the Prairies, Quebec and Southern Ontario
• Average farm size doubled over the last 50 years due to increased consolidation and technological advances

Farm market receipts (billion $, 2022)

• A record high of $87.7 billion
• 5.6% average annual growth rate from 2012-2022
• Largest 10% of farms generate two-thirds of all revenues

Food and beverage processing

Largest manufacturing industry in Canada

• 17.3% of all manufacturing GDP
• 18.1% of manufacturing employment (agri-food)

Facilities across the country, but most are in Ontario and Quebec

Food and beverage processing sales totalled $141.6 billion in 2022

Main industries

• Meat product manufacturing: 27.2%, $38.5 billion
• Dairy product manufacturing: 12.3%, $17.4 billion
• Grain and oilseed milling: 14.3%, $20.3 billion
• Bakeries and tortilla processing: 11.3%, $16 billion

Note: Typically AAFC reports on food and beverage processing sales together, however, beverage processing data is excluded due to confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act.

Crop production

• 2022 GDP, $30.6 billion; employment, 118,300

Principal field crops

• Farm market receipts: $34.8 billion
• Export: $26.6 billion
• Number of reporting farms: 65,135 (2021 data, do not capture other miscellaneous farms)
• Top exports: Wheat (39%), oilseeds except soybean (24%), dry peas and beans (16%)
• Top export markets: China (20%), United States (12%), Japan (11%)

Key stakeholders

• Canada Grains Council
• Cereals Canada
• Grain Growers of Canada

Horticulture

• Farm market receipts: $8.2 billion
• Export: $4.5 billion
• Number of reporting farms: 17,433 (2021 data, do not capture other miscellaneous farms)
• Top exports: Food crops grown under cover (41%), vegetables and melons (29%), nursery and floriculture (20%)
• Top export markets: United States (96%), China (1%), Netherlands (1%)

Key stakeholders

• Canadian Horticulture Council
• Canadian Produce Marketing Association
• Canadian Horticulture Alliance

Animal production, including aquaculture

• 2022 GDP, $5.7 billion; employment, 109,300

Animal production

• Farm market receipts: $33.6 billion
• Export: $3.8 billion
• Number of reporting farms: 76,796 (2021 data, do not capture other miscellaneous farms)
• Top exports: Beef cattle (38%), animal aquaculture (28%), hogs and pigs (20%)
• Top export markets: United States (93%), Hong Kong (2%), Japan (1%)

Key stakeholders

• Supply-managed farmers associations (for example, dairy and chicken)
• Canadian Pork Council
• Canadian Cattle Association

Food and beverage

• 2022 GDP, $33.7 billion; employment, 323,200

Processing

• Domestic: $141.6 billion (Beverage manufacturing shipments data are excluded due to confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act.)
• Export: $53.3 billion
• Establishments with employees: 8,093
• Top exports: Meat processing (21%), starch and vegetable fat and oil processing (19%), seafood processing (10%)
• Top export markets: United States (77%), China (6%), Japan (4%)

Key stakeholders

• Food and Health Consumer Products of Canada
• Food and Beverage Canada
• Wine Growers of Canada
• Canadian Meat Council

Top three crop and livestock commodities by average 2018-2022 farm cash receipts

• British Columbia: Dairy ($701 million), vegetables ($633 million), floriculture, nursery and sod ($543 million)
• Alberta: Cattle and calves ($5.5 billion), canola ($3.1 billion), wheat ($2.5 billion)
• Saskatchewan: Canola ($5.8 billion), wheat ($4.0 billion), cattle and calves ($1.5 billion)
• Manitoba: Canola ($1.7 billion), wheat ($1.3 billion), hogs ($1.2 billion)
• Ontario: Dairy ($2.3 billion), vegetables ($2.2 billion), soybeans ($2.0 billion)
• Quebec: Dairy ($2.6 billion), hogs ($1.6 billion), poultry ($898 million)
• New Brunswick: Cannabis ($239 million, 2020-2022; cannabis data are confidential in New Brunswick for 2018 and 2019), potatoes ($178 million), dairy ($124 million)
• Newfoundland and Labrador: Dairy ($48 million), eggs ($20 million), floriculture, nursery and sod ($9 million)
• Prince Edward Island: Potatoes ($253 million), dairy ($94 million), cattle and calves ($34 million)
• Nova Scotia: Dairy ($156 million), fruit ($73 million), eggs ($46 million)

As an economic department, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) views equal opportunity as a core element to sector growth and prosperity. Supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) will generate benefits for Canadian communities and the sector.

Sectoral challenges and barriers may be amplified for underrepresented and marginalized groups such as

• Lack of access to capital and land
• Limited networks and mentorship with similar experiences
• Lack of collateral and start-up funding opportunities
• Funding providers may view novel or cultural operations as high risk
• Systemic bias or harmful assumptions

The intersection of identity factors can amplify challenges.

AAFC collaborates across government and jurisdictions to support underrepresented and marginalized groups entering and operating in the sector

Enhanced diversity, equity and inclusion contribute to:

• Strengthen rural vitality
• Mitigate labour challenges
• Reconciliation and Indigenous self-determination
• Increase public trust
• Propel innovation
• Open new market opportunities

Mainstream efforts to support underrepresented and marginalized groups in the sector

Gender-based Analysis Plus

• Assesses how diverse groups of Canadians may experience policies, programs and initiatives. AAFC's main tool to challenge assumptions, and identify potential impacts, while considering barriers and systemic inequalities as well as opportunities to address barriers.

Sector engagement tables

• A forum for sector-government engagement, including with underrepresented and marginalized groups, to advance inclusive sector growth and competitiveness.

Canadian Agricultural Youth Council

• Consultative body of up to 25 young Canadians from across the country providing perspectives and advice on the challenges, opportunities, policies and programs affecting the sector.

Some of AAFC's targeted sector-facing efforts to support underrepresented and marginalized groups in the sector

AgriDiversity Program ($5 million over 5 years)

• Funds initiatives to help underrepresented and marginalized groups to participate in the sector.

Youth Employment Skills Program ($1.2 million ongoing, plus $12.3 million for 2023-24 and 2024-25)

• Provides funding for agricultural work projects that employ youth and youth facing barriers.

Indigenous Pathfinder Service

• Personalized advice and guidance to help Indigenous communities, organizations and individuals navigate relevant programs, services, information, tools and support available to start or expand activities in the sector.

Local Food Infrastructure Fund ($70 million over 5 years)

• Funding to support community-based organizations to invest in infrastructure directly related to addressing food insecurities and increasing the accessibility of healthy, nutritious, and ideally, local foods within their community (sunsets March 31, 2024).

Inter-departmental collaboration

Government of Canada's 50-30 

• Challenges Canadian organizations to increase diverse representation in leadership and in their workforce; targeting gender parity ('50%') and representation of other groups ('30%').

Farm Credit Canada's (FCC) diversity programs

• Provides lending, enhancing events and creating resources specifically for Indigenous, women, or youth entrepreneurs to start or grow their agricultural businesses.

Women Entrepreneurship Strategy

• Aims to increase women-owned businesses' access to the financing, networks and expertise they need to start, scale up and access new markets. FCC's Women Entrepreneur Program is part of this strategy.

Diversity, equity and inclusion and the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership

The five-year (2023-2028), $3.5-billion Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) was developed under a guiding principle to "Work to address barriers to participation and consider the needs of underrepresented groups such as youth and women, and strengthen relationships with Indigenous Peoples to better support sector participation." (Guelph Statement, 2021)

Some federal-only programs (AgriDiversity, AgriInnovate, AgriMarketing and AgriScience) incorporate mechanisms or flexibilities for all or certain targeted underrepresented and marginalized groups. Monetary incentives may include preferred cost-shared ratios, and carve outs or set asides. Non-monetary incentives may include flexible intake periods, extended application times, or simplified applications.

Programs outside of Sustainable CAP may offer flexibilities as well. For example, the Agricultural Clean Technology Program offers a more favourable cost-share ratio to businesses majority-owned by one or more underrepresented group.

(2022 data)

Trade at a glance

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) works to open new markets, capitalize on trade opportunities and promote science-based trade rules.

In 2022, the agriculture and agri-food system generated $143.8 billion (7.0%) of national GDP.

Exports totalled $92.8 billion.

• 5th largest exporter of agri-food and seafood products (after the EU-27, the United States, Brazil and China).
• 3.5% of total world export value.

Top exports (2022)

• Wheat, $10.3 billion
• Fish and seafood, $8.4 billion
• Canola oil, $6.3 billion
• Baked products, $6.1 billion
• Canola seed, $5.7 billion
• Pork products, $4.8 billion
• Beef and veal products, $4.7 billion
• Dried legumes, $4.3 billion

Canada's position in the world

Top five export markets and their share of Canada's agri-food and seafood exports:

• United States: C$54.7 billion, 59%
• Mexico: C$2.9 billion, 3.2%
• European Union: C$4.4 billion, 4.8%
• China: C$9.5 billion, 10.3%
• Japan: C$5.3 billion, 5.8%

Supporting trade

Agriculture trade commissioners and technical specialists provide in-country intelligence and practical advice on foreign markets.

International trade missions, trade shows, e-commerce and the Canada Brand Program facilitate new business connections for exporters in key markets.

Under the Indo-Pacific Strategy, Canada will be establishing its first regional Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-food office in Manila, the Philippines, to strengthen partnerships, advance technical cooperation, support Canadian businesses in diversifying their exports, and help position Canada as a preferred supplier in the region.

AgriMarketing ($129.97 million) is a 5-year AAFC program supporting industry-led promotional activities to expand and diversify Canadian exports and seize domestic market opportunities.

AAFC is active at the World Trade Organization and other multilateral fora to advance and defend Canada's agricultural trade policy interests, including advocating for science-based regulations, negotiating new trade rules and monitoring the implementation of commitments by Canada's trading partners to maintain open and predictable trade.

Free trade agreements

Canada has 15 trade agreements covering 51 countries, giving Canadian producers a competitive edge in two-thirds of the global economy.

Examples of multilateral free trade agreements include:

• The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement
• The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
• The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement

Examples of bilateral free trade agreements include agreements with these markets:

• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• European Union
• Honduras
• Israel
• Japan
• Korea
• Mexico
• Panama
• Peru
• United States
• United Kingdom

In 2022, more than three quarters (79.5%) of Canada's agricultural, agri-food and seafood exports were destined for countries where Canada has a trade agreement in place.

Purpose

To provide an overview of programs at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

AAFC programs overview

AAFC-delivered programs provide a direct benefit to the sector through supporting productivity, innovation, research and/or sustainability.

These programs help the sector adopt new technologies, manage market conditions and strengthen environmental sustainability.

AAFC programs provide support during emergencies and natural disasters such as COVID-19, drought and wildfires

• Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) programs
• Supply-managed sector programs
• Environment and climate change programs
• Food Policy programs
• Business Risk Management (BRM) programs
• Other programs

Program details are in the annexes.

Transfer payments are a key tool in program delivery at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

AAFC support to the sector through transfer payments represents approximately $2.8 billion (fiscal year 2022-23).

Includes grants, contributions and other transfer payments and must adhere to Government of Canada reporting and accountability requirements:

• Governed by Treasury Board's Policy on Transfer Payments, Financial Administration Act, Policy on Internal Audit, Privacy Act;
• Reported in Public Accounts of Canada;
• Subject to periodic spending reviews, ensuring alignment with federal priorities and services.

Type of transfer payments

• Statutory transfer payment: Program is mandatory as it is named in an act of Parliament (for example, BRM programs).
• Voted transfer payment: Program (for example, grants and contributions) requires Cabinet and Treasury Board approval (for example, non-BRM programs).

Business Risk Management programs

Business Risk Management (BRM) programs provide agricultural producers with protection against income and production losses, helping producers manage risks that threaten the viability of their farms.

• Department's largest funding envelope;
• Cost-shared 60:40 with provinces and territories;
• Statutory programs under the Federal Income Protection Act;
• Demand-driven to provide support directly to producers;
• Delivered either by federal or provincial government, or partner agency.

BRM programs represent 71% of programming budget (fiscal year 2023-24), and include AgriInsurance, AgriStability, AgriInvest, and AgriRecovery.

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership: Cost-shared initiatives

Program parameters and priorities are jointly defined by federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments for a combined $2.5-billion investment over five years.

• Cost shared, with the federal government contributing 60% of the costs of the program and the provincial/territorial (PT) government contributing 40%.

The programs are developed and delivered by the provinces and territories to meet regional priorities.

• Provides a broad range of support to the sector (for example, economic and business development, environmental extension services, productivity improvements).

AAFC is responsible for:

• Developing and negotiating the Multilateral Framework Agreement and individual Bilateral Agreements with each province and territory to establish program parameters;
• Authorizing federal infrastructure / capital expenditures under cost-shared programming for which the federal share exceeds $500,000; and
• Conducting data analysis and generating comprehensive results reports on the impact of investments.

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership: Federal-only programs

Federal programs and services that represent $1 billion in investment over five years, with a focus on:

• Growing trade and expanding markets to seize opportunities and address emerging needs (AgriMarketing);
• Advancing science, research and innovation, with an emphasis on agricultural and agri-food sector competitiveness and sustainability (AgriInnovate) and environment, economic growth, and sector resilience (AgriScience);
• Building sector capacity, growth and competitiveness, and better reflecting the diversity of our communities (AgriDiversity, AgriCompetitiveness, Regional Collaborative Partnerships Program); and
• Enhancing resiliency and securing public trust to respond to market requirements and meet consumer demands (AgriAssurance).

Delivered by AAFC to directly benefit producers and processors, and to address priorities identified by the agricultural sector.

Five out of six of the federal-only Sustainable CAP programs support all or some underrepresented and marginalized groups through program flexibilities (including AgriDiversity, AgriInnovate, AgriMarketing, AgriAssurance, and AgriScience).

Additional AAFC programming

AAFC directly offers a broad range of programs and services to meet different objectives and respond to specific needs.

Environmental

• Support development and adoption of clean technology and sustainable practices on farm.

Innovation

• Invest in innovative technologies and processes that will support the sector.

Supply management

• Compensation programs following recent trade agreements.

Sector diversity

• Supporting the participation of underrepresented and marginalized groups in the sector, including Indigenous peoples, women, youth, visible minorities/racialized communities, and persons with disabilities.

Food Policy

• Building local food infrastructure and reducing food loss and waste.

Resiliency

• Programs that support the financial resilience and competitiveness of the sector due to emerging challenges.

Federally designed with different delivery models and partners. Often time-limited. Current and new programming is key to supporting the sector and achieving federal priorities.

Establishing a new transfer payment program

Policy authority

• Sought through a Memorandum to Cabinet (MC), submitted by the Minister, when seeking a Cabinet decision on new policy or funding requests.

Program and funding authority, terms and conditions

• Sought through a Treasury Board submission, submitted by the Minister, to seek approval of terms and conditions, including program elements (for example, objectives, design, costs, delivery).

Program guidelines

• Approved by the Assistant Deputy Minister, Programs Branch; provides specific program and funding criteria for program applicants while respecting the terms and conditions.

AAFC's Minister is responsible for direction on programming, including:

• Approving minor amendments, continuation or termination of terms and conditions;
• Seeking Treasury Board approval for major amendments; and
• Setting the strategic direction for risk tolerance for transfer payment programs.

The Centre of Expertise for Grants and Contributions guides programs through this process and ensures alignment to relevant policies.

Standard project approval process

1. Application
2. Preliminary assessment to confirm eligibility
3. Full assessment (includes consultations with AAFC subject matter experts, such as Market and Industry Services Branch, Science and Technology Branch, Strategic Policy Branch)
4. Project Recommendation Form
5. Director General Review Committee (depending on value of project)
6. Project approval (as per the Delegation of Authority)
7. Signature of a funding agreement

Final project approval is provided by the Minister or their delegated authority, as per the Financial Administration Act.

Client service improvements

AAFC continuously works to make programs more accessible and to improve the client service experience.

The department is offering online service delivery to facilitate a more streamlined delivery of programs. For example:

• The My AAFC Account Portal allows clients easy online access to programs and services and is currently available for users of AgriInvest and AgriStability, as well as six non-BRM programs with more to come.
• AAFC has also developed a Grants and Contributions Digital Platform that streamlines voted program administration, provides flexible and integrated program delivery, management and reporting, while improving client service. All new or existing programs will be onboarded to this new platform to ensure a single point of entry for programs.

Client insights are gathered to enhance service delivery of programs, such as client satisfaction/impact surveys, client journey mapping, and usability testing.

AAFC has improved the accessibility of its program offerings (for example, for underrepresented and marginalized groups and new entrants who are facing challenges) and work continues to improve the collection of data for underrepresented groups to identify potential barriers to access.

Looking ahead: Upcoming program considerations

Short-term decisions related to next steps for ongoing programs or upcoming program launches.

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Looking ahead: Business Risk Management changes under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership

With the launch of the new framework in 2023, several improvements were made to BRM programs, with further changes coming over the next few years:

• The AgriStability compensation rate was increased (from 70% to 80%);
• Commitment to explore a more streamlined and timely AgriStability model and offer it in the next year or two;
• Requirement for agri-environmental risk assessments for larger farms by 2025 under AgriInvest;
• Introduction of an option for provinces to offer AgriInsurance Whole Farm Cost-Share to incentivize crop diversification, while increasing the level of cost-share towards catastrophic loss events;
• Commitment for each province to pilot AgriInsurance premium rebates for farmers who adopt risk reducing and environmentally beneficial management practices (BMPs); and
• BRM review to be undertaken to assess impacts of a changing climate on BRM programs.

Annex 1: Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership

Purpose

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) is a 5-year (2023 to 2028), $3.5-billion investment by FPT governments to strengthen the agriculture, agri-food, and agri-based products sector and increase its competitiveness, prosperity and sustainability.

Of the 5-year $3.5-billion investment, $2.5 billion is invested in cost-shared programming with the provinces and territories. The federal government is also investing over $1 billion in federal-only programming and services under the Partnership to strengthen the sector by ensuring continued innovation, growth and prosperity.

Background

Since 2003, FPT partners have worked collaboratively to negotiate the priorities and principles of 5-year agricultural policy frameworks that support initiatives with common objectives and reduce redundancy and inequities in programming.

The Partnership is the most current framework and launched April 1, 2023; it commits FPT partners to support initiatives within five priority areas.

• Building sector capacity, growth and competitiveness
• Climate change and environment
• Science, research and innovation
• Market development and trade
• Resiliency and public trust

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership funding 2023 to 2028

The Partnership programs and services were developed based on extensive consultations with producers, processors, Indigenous communities, women, youth, and small and emerging sectors to address the changing needs of the agricultural sector. Federal Strategic Initiatives (fed-only) programming under the Partnership focuses on the following key areas:

• Market development and trade — providing core industry services, such as timely market information and sector expertise to help improve the sector's competitiveness, growth and adaptability. Advancing and defending international trade interests, as well as improving market development and market access activities, namely:
  • AgriMarketing ($129.97 million) — focuses on helping increase and diversify exports through industry-led promotional activities.
• Science, research and innovation — enhancing the competitiveness of the sector through research, science and innovation, and adoption of innovative products and practices, with an emphasis on the environment and clean growth, namely:
  • AgriInnovate ($95.4 million) — supports the commercialization, demonstration and/or adoption of commercial-ready innovative agri-based technologies and processes; and
  • AgriScience ($325 million) — supports innovative pre-commercial applied agri-research and development of new technologies, practices, and products.
• Building sector capacity, growth and competitiveness — supporting a sector that is successfully adapting to market demands, opportunities and issues while maintaining a strong and representative labour force, namely:
  • AgriCompetitiveness ($25.7 million) — assists industry-led efforts to provide producers with the information they need to build capacity and support the sector's development;
  • AgriDiversity ($5 million) — strengthens the sector by helping diverse groups build skills and take on leadership roles; and
  • Regional Collaborative Partnerships Program ($3 million) — federal top-up contribution to encourage provinces and territories to address shared challenges and/or priorities, and further encourage regional collaboration based on the five priority areas.
• Resiliency and public trust — enabling the development and implementation of industry-led, sector-specific strategies and equipping industry with tools to manage risks and address challenges to public trust, namely:
  • AgriAssurance ($64.05 million) — supports the sector to address market and regulatory requirements, and to make credible and verifiable claims for Canadian agriculture products.

Annex 2: Cost-shared programming 2023 to 2028

Cost-shared programming

Cost-shared strategic initiatives are a joint undertaking whereby both federal and PT governments provide funding for programming designed and delivered by PTs.

• These initiatives represent a $2.5 billion investment over 5 years: 60% federally funded ($1.5 billion) and 40% PT funded ($1 billion) including $250 million for the Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program.
• The main objective is to provide the PT governments with flexibility to meet regional priorities while contributing to broader national outcomes that are developed collaboratively among FPT governments.
• Under Sustainable CAP, FPT governments have committed to new performance metrics for cost-shared programming to support an increased emphasis on understanding programming impact through improved data sharing, results reporting, and contribution to measurable outcomes.

Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program (RALP)

• $250-million cost-shared program to help producers conserve and enhance the resiliency of agricultural landscapes.
• Uses an ecological goods and services payment approach (per-acre payments to farmers and land agreements) to support on-farm adoption to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase carbon sequestration, and complements other programs that help to develop and implement farming practices that use the natural ability of agricultural land to address climate change.
• Designed and delivered by provinces and territories in order to reflect local conditions and regional needs.

Regional Collaborative Partnerships Program (RCP)

• $3-million program provides a federal top-up contribution to encourage provinces and territories to address shared challenges and/or priorities, and further encourage regional collaboration based on the five priority areas.
• Provinces and territories commit cost-shared funding to achieve objectives of a common project, and RCP provides additional federal funding to support the project.

Annex 3: Business Risk Management suite of programs 2023 to 2028

AgriInvest: A self-managed government-matched savings account that helps producers manage small income declines and make on-farm investments

• A producer's AgriInvest account builds as they make annual deposits based on a percentage of their Allowable Net Sales (to a maximum of $1 million) and receives matching contributions on the first 1% from governments. Based on this limit, the maximum annual government deposit is $10,000 per year.
• Government contributions and costs to administer AgriInvest are shared between the federal and PT governments on a 60:40 basis. AgriInvest is delivered by AAFC for the Yukon and all provinces, except Quebec, where it is delivered provincially. Between 2016 and 2020 (the last 5 years of complete program data), AgriInvest provided an average of $269 million annually in government contributions.
• AgriInvest has the highest participation rate of all BRM programs. Approximately 78% of producers, accounting for 94% of market revenues, participate in AgriInvest.
• Producers can withdraw accrued funds from their accounts at any time and currently have access to a total over $2.6 billion in their AgriInvest accounts, with an average of approximately $29,600 per account. Since the program's inception in 2007, producers have withdrawn over $6.8 billion of combined producer/government funds.

AgriStability: Provides individualized support when producers experience large margin declines relative to their historical average

• Uses a producer's individual "margin" to calculate program payments and accounts for impacts on both revenues and variable costs directly related to production. A producer receives an AgriStability payment if their current year margin drops by more than 30% relative to their historical margins and is compensated at 80% of the total margin decline. Margins are calculated on a whole-farm basis, responding to a variety of risks, including production or price declines, rising input costs, and market losses due to reduced sales or border closures.
• Is the second largest program in the BRM suite, after AgriInsurance. From 2016 to 2020, program payments have averaged approximately $400 million per year.
• Program payments and costs are shared between the federal and PT governments on a 60:40 basis, and the program is delivered by AAFC in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Yukon. The program is delivered provincially in all other jurisdictions.

AgriInsurance: Provides subsidized insurance coverage to minimize the financial impacts of production losses caused by uncontrollable natural perils, such as flood, drought and disease.

• Is the largest of the BRM programs, comprising about 60% of the allocated funds. In 2022-23, government premium contributions were approximately $1.6 billion; an increase of approximately 60% compared to 2019-20. This increase is largely due to a spike in grain prices.
• Federal and provincial governments and program participants cost-share premiums to ensure affordability of coverage for producers (generally, 36% federal, 24% provincial and 40% producer). Governments also fully cost-share the administrative costs of the program (60:40 federal-provincial).
• Producers must proactively buy insurance before an agricultural product is planted or before any damage is possible. When a producer's production falls below their insured coverage level, they are compensated.
• Each province maintains an insurance fund account (funded by premiums) to pay indemnities to insured producers and to pay the premiums for any private reinsurance agreements.

AgriRecovery: Provides a coordinated process for FPT governments to assess the impacts of natural disasters (such as extreme weather, diseases and pests) on producers, and, where required, to respond with targeted financial assistance.

• Provide support for the extraordinary costs of actions producers must take to resume production as quickly as possible and/or mitigate the impacts following a disaster. AgriRecovery is intended to complement, but not duplicate, support available under other BRM programs.
• Since 2010, 52 initiatives have paid out over $1.7 billion (federal-provincial) to assist producers in recovering from a variety of disease- and weather-related disasters. Nine of these initiatives, representing $38.5 million (federal-provincial) were launched under Growing Forward 2 (2013-2018). Under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (2018-2023), there were 19 initiatives launched representing $861 million (federal-provincial).
• Federal funding for an AgriRecovery initiative is drawn from an annual federal funding allocation of $125 million.

Livestock Price Insurance (LPI): provides a market price insurance program that complements the national suite of BRM programs. This region-specific program helps cattle and hog producers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba manage down-side market price risk that can affect the financial viability of their farm.

• LPI provides producers protection if market prices are less than the selected forward insurance price and producers pay the entirety of the actuarially-sound insurance premiums.
• The insurance premium account pays indemnities to insured producers and can also be used for the purchase of private reinsurance to secure the balance of the insurance premium account.
• The federal government has access to ████████████████████ statutory contribution funding from 2023-24 to 2027-28 to reimburse 60 percent of the federal/provincial cost-shared administration of the program. This funding covers the current LPI program in Western Canada and allows support for LPI expansion to Atlantic Canada.
• Federal support also includes a provision for interest-free LPI deficit financing support up ████████████████████████████████████ to cover potential program account shortfalls in paying indemnities. Provinces ultimately hold the program liability, and any deficit financing support must be repaid through the collection of LPI premiums.

Annex 4: Supply managed sector programs

Dairy Direct Payment Program

• Up to $2.95 billion total funding over 10 years to cow milk producers to help transition to new market realities due to recent international trade agreements.
  • $1.2 billion over 6 years (2023-2029) to address the impacts of the Canada—United States—Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
  • $1.75 billion was delivered over 4 years (2019-2023) to address the impacts of the Canada—European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
• The Dairy Direct Payment Program is being delivered in co-operation with the Canadian Dairy Commission.
• There are no applications. However, producers are required to register every year, by August 31, for the Program and indicate acceptance of the payment. Producers have the ability to register through an online portal, and by mail or fax.
• Payments are proportional to each dairy producer's share of dairy quota and help dairy producers adapt to CPTPP, CUSMA, and CETA market conditions by replacing foregone income, increase producer confidence in the future of the supply management system, and provide producers with the opportunity to make investments in their operations.
  • For example, starting in 2024-25, the owner of a farm with 80 dairy cows will be awarded compensation in the form of a direct payment of about $106,000 over 6 years.

Supply Management Processing Investment Fund

• $397.5 million over 6 years (2022-2028) to help processors of supply-managed commodities to adapt to market changes resulting from CETA, CPTPP and CUSMA.
• Through this program, processors of supply-managed commodities have access to support investments in processing facilities that improve productivity and/or efficiency through the acquisition of new automated equipment and technology.
• As of July 11, 2023, 44 projects were approved totalling over $84 million in AAFC's contribution.

Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken

• $44 million over 10 years to increase domestic demand and consumption of Canadian turkey ($19.23 million) and chicken products ($25 million).
• Funding supports activities such as promotion and advertising campaigns in partnership with the retail sector, or market research and product development to meet emerging consumer demands.
• Funding will be distributed over a 10-year period to improve the sector's market position. Organizations submit multi-year strategies to AAFC for approval.
• As of March 31, 2023, the Program has approved the Turkey Farmers of Canada for up to $7.5 million for two projects, and the Chicken Farmers of Canada for up to $4.5 million for two projects.

Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program

• $759 million over 10 years to help supply-managed poultry and egg producers adapt to market changes resulting from CPTPP and CUSMA.
• $357.3 million for chicken producers; $91.9 million for turkey producers; $219 million for egg producers; and $90.6 million for broiler hatching egg producers.
• The Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program increases efficiency or productivity; improves on-farm food safety and biosecurity; improves environmental sustainability; and responds to consumer preferences (improve animal welfare, adopt alternative housing systems, transition to organic production, etc.).
• As of July 14, 2023, the Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program received 1,843 applications, for a total of $220.6 million; 1,180 projects have been approved for up to $147.1 million.

Annex 5: Food Policy programs

Food Waste Reduction Challenge

A 5-year, $20 million initiative to support new innovations and solutions that can help address the problem of food waste and loss across the food supply chain, thereby reducing the associated economic, environmental, and social costs of food waste.

The Food Waste Reduction Challenge is composed of four streams:

• Stream A: Business models that prevent food waste;
• Stream B: Business models that divert food waste;
• Stream C: Technologies that extend the life of food;
• Stream D: Technologies that transform food waste, surplus food or food by-products into new food or other products.

A three-staged approach to funding is being used. At each stage, different financial and non-financial incentives will be available to successful participants. At every stage, solutions will be reviewed against the assessment criteria, and selected winners will be invited to move to the following stage.

Streams A and B

• Stage 1 — Concept application: Up to 24 prizes of $100,000
• Stage 2 — Market demonstration results: Up to 12 prizes of $400,000
• Stage 3 — Product ready and testing: Up to 2 grand prizes of $1.5 million

Streams C and D

• Stage 1 — Concept application: Up to 18 prizes of $100,000
• Stage 2 — Prototype: Up to 6 prizes of $450,000
• Stage 3 — Grow and scale in market: Up to 2 grand prizes of $1 million

AgriCommunication

A 3-year, $8-million program to help strengthen public trust through projects that promote consumer awareness of Canadian agriculture.

The AgriCommunication Program is part of AAFC's broader AgriCommunication Initiative.

The program aims to increase appreciation and pride in the contributions of farmers and the food industry, and enhance public trust about the origin of the food Canadians eat and how it is produced.

The program provides contributions for industry-led efforts to promote: consumer awareness of Canadian agriculture; sector awareness of consumer perceptions; and industry's efforts to endorse environmentally sustainable best practices

The application intake period is now closed, and the program ends March 31, 2024.

Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF)

A 5-year, $70 million initiative that aims to strengthen food systems and to facilitate access to safe and nutritious food, with a focus on Canadians at risk of food insecurity.

The initial intake of LFIF took place from August 15, 2019, to November 8, 2019, (LFIF-1) and was aimed at small community-based organizations to improve their infrastructure and purchase equipment directly related to the accessibility of healthy, nutritious and, ideally, local foods within their community; 362 projects were approved, with over $6.6 million in AAFC funding.

The second intake of LFIF was from June 9, 2020, to February 12, 2021, (LFIF-2) and, along with simpler infrastructure requests noted above, it included more complex, multi-year projects that strengthened local food systems. The second call received 488 applications for funding, and approval was sought for 281 projects, representing over $21 million in AAFC funding.

The third intake of LFIF took place from July 12, 2021, to September 3, 2021 (LFIF-4) and provided rapid-response grants to help prevent hunger through investments in infrastructure needs. The third call received 599 applications for funding, and approval was sought for 178 projects, representing over $8.9 million in AAFC funding.

The fourth intake of LFIF took place from June 1, 2022 to July 15, 2022 (LFIF-5), and focused on projects that either created a portion of (or expanded) a food system or implemented an entire food system. The fourth call received 309 applications for funding, and approval was sought for 80 projects, representing over $19.6 million in AAFC funding.

A fifth and final intake of LFIF took place from May 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024 (LFIF-6), and mobilized an additional $10 million from Budget 2023 to provide grants to help increase food security through investments in infrastructure needs. The fifth call received over 1,000 applications which are currently under review.

Annex 6: Environment and climate change programs

Agricultural Climate Solutions Program Living Labs

$185-million, 10-year program part of the Government of Canada's Agricultural Climate Solutions initiative, under the $4 billion Natural Climate Solutions Fund, a program managed by Natural Resources Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and AAFC.

The program proceeded in two phases: In 2022, following a call for proposals, nine Living Lab sites were approved in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, and in 2023, five more sites were approved for Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. All sites will operate for five years and focus on developing and testing BMPs that sequester and reduce carbon emissions.

Agricultural Climate Solutions Program On-Farm Climate Action Fund

$670 million, 7-year program to accelerate co-development, testing, adoption, dissemination and monitoring of technologies and practices, including BMPs, that sequester carbon and/or mitigate GHG emissions in:

• nitrogen management;
• cover cropping; and
• rotational grazing practices

These practices provide other environmental benefits, for example, improved biodiversity and soil health.

After a call for proposals, 13 organizations were selected as initial recipients and chosen to redistribute the funding to producers across Canada to support the adoption of the selected BMPs. Together, these organizations were initially approved to administer approximately $190 million in funding over 3 years. A new call for proposals is planned for 2023 to select who will administer the balance of the funding until 2028.

Budget 2023 allocated $34.1 million to the On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF) to help Eastern Canadian farmers impacted by high fertilizer prices in their adoption of nitrogen management practices to optimize the use of fertilizers.

Agricultural Clean Technology Program

The Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) Program supports research, development and adoption of clean technologies.

$495.7 million total funding over 7 years divided into two streams:

• Adoption Stream (2021 to 2026) supports non-repayable activities for adoption of technologies that are proven to reduce GHG emissions.
  • As of August 18, 2021, ACT-Adoption received 442 project summary forms, and 184 full applications, requesting $58.65 million.
• Research and Innovation Stream (2021 to 2028) supports non-repayable and/or repayable activities for pre-market innovation, including research, development, commercialization, demonstration and scale-up.
  • As of July 17, 2023, ACT–Research & Innovation received 317 project summary forms, with 61 organizations invited to submit full applications for a funding total of $60.47M.

Budget 2021 outlined $50 million for purchasing more efficient grain dryers for farmers and $10 million over 2021-2023 towards powering farms with clean energy to move off diesel.

Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge

A $12 million initiative to advance innovative, scalable and economically viable practices, processes and technologies that contribute to the net reduction of enteric methane emissions from the cattle sector. The challenge will launch mid-September 2023.

Solutions are expected in three main categories:

• Feed additives and related technologies.
• Pasture and grazing management.
• Production efficiencies and animal management systems.

A three-staged approach to funding is being used. At each stage, different financial and non-financial incentives will be available to successful participants. At every stage, solutions will be reviewed against the assessment criteria, and selected winners will be invited to move to the following stage.

• Stage 1A — Concept application: Up to 20 prizes of $100,000
• Stage 1B — Prototype development: Up to 20 prizes of $150,000
• Stage 2 — Animal testing and measurement: Up to 10 prizes of $500,000
• Stage 3 — Grow and scale in market: Up to 2 grand prizes of $1 million per winner

Annex 7: Other programs and services

Farm Debt Mediation Service

Statutory program provides free, confidential services to those who farm commercially and are having difficulties meeting their financial obligations.

Supports bringing producers and their creditor(s) together with a mediator in a neutral forum to reach a mutually acceptable solution related to farm debt and financial obligations. The Service has proven to be an effective and economical alternative to resolving financial disputes in court.

To access the Service, applicants must farm commercially and have stopped making or no longer be able to make payments on time; or if their farm was sold, the value of the property is not sufficient to cover their debt.

• Once an application is deemed complete, a qualified financial consultant is assigned to work with the applicant throughout the mediation process. The consultant works with the farmer to assess their financial situation and to develop a financial recovery plan. Once the plan is developed, a mediation meeting is arranged for the producer and creditor(s) to come to a mutually acceptable solution.
• During the mediation, the mediator ensures a fair and unbiased mediation process. If an arrangement is reached, the arrangement is signed and circulated among the parties.

International Collaboration Program

Supports a range of international memberships and projects aimed at advancing AAFC's International Strategy.

Provides AAFC with the opportunities to leverage and influence policy decisions in international fora and to enhance international cooperation.

An internal program that advances AAFC's international priorities through two types of international grant payments:

• ongoing payments to support Canada's memberships in key agricultural international organizations/treaties (for example, the International Grains Council); and,
• targeted payments to advance specific international priorities or projects (for example, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture — Professional Surveillance Training for African Swine Fever in the Caribbean).

An annual budget of approximately $1.2 million per year, drawn from an ongoing authority and from the Sustainable CAP, but can increase when additional funding is available within the Department and in response to greater demand to advance key international priorities.

Youth Employment and Skills Program

AAFC is one of 12 federal departments participating in Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)'s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS).

At AAFC, the Youth Employment and Skills Program (YESP) helps organizations create agricultural internships that give employees agriculture career-related work experiences in Canada and/or skills acquisition through mentoring and coaching.

Provides young Canadians an opportunity to gain critical work experience, knowledge and skills through projects that employ youth and youth facing barriers to fully participate in the workforce (for example, physical or mental disabilities, coming from remote or rural locations with limited opportunities).

Funding is comprised of different sources, including ongoing funding of $1.2 million, and ESDC-led budget and off-cycle requests. Most recently, AAFC was approved to receive an additional $24.54 million for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years, bringing the program budget to $13.47 million per year.

Wine Sector Support Program

An up to $166 million program that provides short-term financial support to licensed Canadian wineries as they adapt to ongoing and emerging challenges impacting the financial resilience and competitiveness of the wine industry.

Funding provided to the industry is not linked to specific projects and/or activities. Individual grants through the program are based on each applicant's eligible wine production from the previous year, multiplied by the program's per litre payment rate for that year.

Each year, program representatives verify the totality of all wine production submitted to the program by applicants, which forms the basis of the program's per litre payment rate.

The program has run two application intake periods since 2022 and ends on March 31, 2024.

African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program

An up to $23.4 million program over three years (2022-25) that aims to enhance the pork sector's capacity to prevent and prepare for the entry of African Swine Fever (ASF) into Canada and reduce its impacts in case of an outbreak.

The program provides funding to the pork industry to address identified gaps in prevention and mitigation efforts and develop the tools, partnerships, and activities needed to ensure the early detection of ASF and an effective emergency response in case of an outbreak.

The program is delivered under two streams:

1. The Prevention and Preparedness Stream (PPS) provides non-repayable contributions to projects that focus on one or more of the following priorities: biosecurity assessment and improvements including wild pig management; sector analysis, communication and engagement and African swine fever-related research projects.
2. The Welfare Slaughter and Disposal Stream (WSDS) provides non-repayable contributions to projects that focus on processor retrofits and regional preparation for welfare slaughter and disposal.

Annex 8: Other programs and services — Act programs

Agricultural Marketing Programs Act: Advance Payments Program

The Agricultural Marketing Programs Act provides statutory authority for two federal-only loan and price guarantee programs, the Advance Payments Program and the Price Pooling Program.

The Advance Payments Program allows Canadian farmers to obtain low-interest cash advances on the expected value of their commodities. This cash flow provides marketing flexibility for producers to market their products at the best time and price. Farmers can obtain an advance through 30 third-party Advance Payments Program administrators (mostly industry associations) across Canada. On average, approximately $2.8 billion in advances are issued to nearly 20,000 producers per program year.

Farmers can obtain advances of up to 50% of the expected market value of eligible agricultural products they will produce or already have in storage. The maximum advance is $1 million per program year, with the Government of Canada paying the interest on the first $100,000. The interest-free portion was temporarily increased to $250,000 and $350,000 for the 2022 and 2023 program years respectively to help farmers impacted by factors such as inflation, increased input costs, and increased interest costs resulting from the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Agricultural Marketing Programs Act: Price Pooling Program

The Agricultural Marketing Programs Act provides statutory authority for two federal-only loan and price guarantee programs, the Advance Payments Program and the Price Pooling Program.

The Price Pooling Program facilitates the cooperative marketing of agricultural products by guaranteeing the price of products sold through marketing agencies. If the average price received by the marketing agency for the sale of products delivered to the pool falls below the guaranteed price, a payment is triggered, and the Government of Canada makes up the difference. This guarantee allows marketing agencies to arrange financing and provide payments to producers upon delivery of products to the marketing pool.

The Price Pooling Program is designed to only trigger government payments in the case of severe price declines (35% relative to the average wholesale price). As such, the Price Pooling Program has not triggered a government payment since 1997.

The Canadian Agricultural Loans Act

The Canadian Agricultural Loans Act (CALA) Program is designed to increase the availability of credit for the establishment, improvement and development of farms. Agricultural co-operatives are also eligible for loans under the Program to process, distribute, or market the products of farming.

The Program is delivered by eligible lending institutions (for example, chartered banks, credit unions, Caisse Populaires, and Alberta Treasury Branches). The lender exercises its due diligence to determine that both the applicant and the purpose of the loan qualify under the program. The lender pays a registration fee of 0.85% of the amount of the loan to the Receiver General for Canada. The government guarantee covers up to 95% of any net loss incurred on eligible loans registered under the program.

The overall loan limit for each applicant is $500,000. Loans are limited to a maximum of: $500,000 for real property and/or up to $350,000 for other eligible purposes (for example, to purchase equipment, breeding livestock, etc.). For example, if a farmer gets a CALA loan for $300,000 for a tractor, they can still access up to $200,000 for land purchase or building repair, or $50,000 for another implement and $150,000 for land purchase or building repair. Agricultural co-operatives are eligible for $3 million under the program, with approval of the Minister.

Annex 9: Other programs and services — innovation programs

Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program

Provides non-repayable contributions for industry-led projects, with the objective of helping the sector seize opportunities, respond to emerging issues, and pilot solutions to adapt and remain competitive.

$50.3 million over 5 years providing up to $10 million per year to fund projects that are national or sectoral in scope and support industry to develop a new idea, product, niche, or market opportunity; address issues that were unknown or not a concern before; and investigate and test new ways of dealing with sector issues.

Focuses on the following priority areas:

• adaptation to new technology
• environmental sustainability
• strategic planning and capacity building
• emerging issues

Launched February 2019 and as of July 2023, received 82 pre-screening summaries and 43 full proposals; 23 projects have been approved, for a total commitment of $50.2 million.

Innovative Solutions Canada

Innovative Solutions Canada is an Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada led program with over $100 million annually supporting scale up and growth of Canada's small and medium-sized enterprise innovation capacity towards federal government-based projects and developing solutions to sector-based challenges. AAFC has an annual commitment of $3.9 million towards this program.

Supports partnerships between departments and agencies and Canadian innovators in development of early stage, pre-commercial innovations with the ultimate goal of promoting growth of Canada's small businesses.

Launched in December 2017 with the participation of 20 departments and agencies.

Phase 1 projects are awarded up to $150,000 (Proof of Concept); Phase 2 projects (Prototype Development) are awarded up to $1 million; and Phase 3 (Pathways to Commercialization) offer various amounts determined by each Department.

AAFC has posted the following challenges:

• Improved Compostability of Bioplastics — A joint challenge issued by AAFC and Natural Resources Canada; part of Canada's larger commitment to reduce plastic waste while growing the economy and creating good jobs. EcoEnviro Labs and Titan Clean Energy Projects Corp. were awarded Phase 2 Funding — projects are now completed.
• Scaling Down Precision Agriculture — Troo Corp. and Expert Systems Inc. were awarded Phase 2 funding — projects are now completed.
• Canadian Meat Processing Automation — Four projects were awarded Phase 1 funding. Phase 2 funding assessment underway.
• Controlled Environment Agriculture Farming — Nine projects were awarded Phase 1 funding. Phase 2 funding assessment underway.

Annex 10: Other programs and services — Indigenous service

The Indigenous Pathfinder Service

Was established in 2018 and provides one-on-one client support to Indigenous peoples who would like to enter the agriculture and agri-food sector or are looking to expand their operations.

The primary role of the Indigenous Pathfinder Service is to:

• Listen to client's project ideas;
• Offer advice on project ideas and help Indigenous clients align their projects to AAFC program eligibility;
• Identify programs and services available to Indigenous peoples;
• Guide Indigenous peoples through application processes for AAFC programs and services;
• Facilitate meetings between program managers and Indigenous peoples; and
• Participate in various departmental, federal, provincial and regional working groups or industry groups.

The Service also collaborates with other federal departments, provincial and regional officials to find programs and services that benefit Indigenous peoples that are not offered by AAFC (Program Gap Analysis).

The Service frequently meets with industry organizations and Indigenous peoples to promote AAFC programs and services.

Annex 11: Budget distribution

BRM, cost-shared and federal programming under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership programming (April 1, 2023 — March 31, 2028)

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) is a $3.5-billion investment, including

• $1 billion in federal programs and activities
• $2.5 billion in cost-shared programs and activities by federal, provincial and territorial governments (FPT)

Federal only programs: $1 billion (5 year)

Science, research and innovation

AgriScience: $325 million (5 year)

• Supports leading-edge innovation and applied science
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

• AgriScience Projects
  • Support to short-term projects
• AgriScience Clusters
  • Partnerships to address priorities that are national in scope

AgriInnovate: $95.4 million (5 year)

• Supports the commercialization, adoption, and/or demonstration of innovative agri-based technologies and processes
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Building sector capacity, growth and competitiveness

AgriDiversity: $5 million (5 year)

• Helps underrepresented groups participate in the sector
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

AgriCompetitiveness: $25.7 million (5 year)

• Assists industry to build capacity and enhance sector development through information-sharing activities

Regional Collaborative Partnerships Program: $3 million (5 year)

• Supports, enables and encourages provinces and territories to address shared challenges and/or priorities, and further encourages regional collaboration based on the five priority areas

Market development and trade

AgriMarketing: $129.97 million (5 year)

• Helps industry grow and diversify exports to international markets and seize domestic market opportunities
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Resiliency and public trust

AgriAssurance: $64.05 million (5 year)

• Supports industry to develop and adopt systems, standards and tools related to the health and safety of Canadian agri-food products, and how they are produced
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

FPT cost-shared programs: $2.5 billion (5 year)

Programs designed and delivered by provinces and territories tailored to meet region-specific needs. Costs are shared 60% ($1.5 billion) by the federal government and 40% ($1 billion) by provincial/territorial governments.

Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program: $250 million (5 year)

• Supports the adoption of on-farm land use and management practices that prioritize climate resilience.

Business Risk Management programs (BRM)

• Funding fluctuates with annual average of $1.7 billion in payments
• In addition to $3.5 billion under Sustainable CAP, BRM programs provide agricultural producers with protection against income and production losses, helping to manage risks.

AgriInvest

• Offers cash flow to help producers manage income declines

AgriRecovery Framework

• Delivers disaster recovery relief following natural disaster events

AgriInsurance

• Offers cost-shared insurance against natural hazards to reduce the financial impact of production or asset losses

AgriStability

• Provides support when producers experience a large margin decline

Suite of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada programs to address business, environmental and emerging risks, and drive innovation and growth

Risk management (outside Sustainable CAP programming)

Canadian Agricultural Loans Act: $75 million (ongoing loan program)

• Provides easier access to credit to establish, improve and develop farms, and loans to process, distribute or market the products of farming

Advance Payments Program: $2.8 billion (ongoing advance program)

• Provides easier access to credit through cash advances to support flexible marketing decisions

Price Pooling Program: $45.9 million (ongoing price guarantee program)

• Provides a price guarantee that protects marketing agencies and producers against unanticipated declines in the market price of their products

Livestock Price Insurance (5-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Allows western Canadian producers to purchase price protection on cattle and hogs in the form of insurance policy

Environment

Agricultural Clean Technology Program: $495.7 million (7-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Supports research, development and adoption of clean technologies
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Agricultural Climate Solutions — On-Farm Climate Action Fund: $670 million (7-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Supports adoption of greenhouse gas reduction practices on-farm
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Agricultural Climate Solutions — Living Labs Program: $185 million (10-year program, ends March 31, 2031)

• Convenes stakeholders to facilitate development and application of on-farm practices with environmental benefits focused on greenhouse gas sequestration and mitigation
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Supply management

Dairy Direct Payment Program: $1.2 billion (6-year program, ends March 31, 2029)

• Payments to help cow milk producers transition to new market realities from Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)

Supply Management Processing Investment Fund: $397.5 million (6-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Helps processors of supply-managed commodities adapt to market changes resulting from the implementation of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and CUSMA

Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program: $759 million (10-year program, ends March 31, 2031)

• Helps supply-managed poultry and egg producers adapt to market changes resulting from the CPTPP and CUSMA
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken: $44 million (10-year program, ends March 31, 2031)

• Helps increase domestic demand and consumption of Canadian poultry products
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Innovation

Innovative Solutions Canada: $3.9 million (annual program)

• Federal projects to support growth of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) innovations and solutions to sector challenges

Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program: $50.3 million (ongoing program renews every 5 years, renewal date March 31, 2024)

• Supports sector to seize opportunities, respond to emerging issues, and pilot solutions to adapt and remain competitive

Food

Food Waste Reduction Challenge: $20 million (5-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Supports solutions to food waste and loss across the supply chain, thereby reducing the associated economic, environmental and social costs of food waste

Local Food Infrastructure Fund: $70 million (5-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Aims to strengthen food systems and facilitate access to safe/nutritious food for communities
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

AgriCommunication Program: $8 million (3-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Federal initiative supporting activities which increase appreciation and pride in the contributions of farmers and the food industry and enhance public trust
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

Other

Youth Employment and Skills Program: $1.2 million (ongoing program)

• Additional funding of $12.3 million will be provided for 2023-24 and 2024-25
• Funds agricultural work internships for youth and youth facing barriers
• Includes measures to encourage participation of underrepresented groups

International Collaboration Program: $1.2 million (annual program)

• Supports a range of international memberships and projects aimed at advancing AAFC's International Strategy

Wine Sector Support Program: $166 million (2-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Short-term support to licensed Canadian wineries to adapt to challenges impacting financial resilience and competitiveness

African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program | $23.4 million (3-year program, ends March 31, 2025)

• Helps the pork sector prevent and prepare for potential outbreak of African Swine Fever

Farm Debt Mediation Service (ongoing program)

• Offers free financial counselling and mediation services to farmers who are having difficulties meeting their financial obligations

Science and Technology Branch composition

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Strategic Plan for Science

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's (AAFC) Strategic Plan for Science is a visioning document to help guide the department's research and science activities over the next 10 years.

Efforts focused on four key science missions that reflect desired outcomes for the sector:

• Mitigating and adapting to climate change
• Increasing the resiliency of agro-ecosystems
• Advancing the circular economy by developing value-added opportunities
• Accelerating the digital transformation of the agriculture and agri-food sector

Key elements:

• Mission-driven science
• People first strategy
• Organizational excellence

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada science expertise

AAFC is the largest agricultural science research organization in Canada.

STB disciplines include:

• Agronomy
• Animal science
• Biochemistry
• Biosystematics/taxonomy
• Entomology
• Environmental science
• Genomics and bioinformatics
• Microbiology
• Molecular biology
• Plant breeding/genetics
• Plant pathology
• Post-harvest physiology
• Soil science
• Weed science

8 prioritized emerging/promising areas (multi-disciplinary research, interactive data):

• Systems biology (agro-ecology and Living Labs)
• Clean technologies
• Microbiome
• Accurate and rapid trait identification (integrated 'omics')
• Big data and predictive analytics (modelling/artificial intelligence/machine learning)
• Nutrition and health
• Advanced-omics
• Predictive analytics

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada internal science continuum

Science-policy-program integration

Integrating science into the design of AAFC policy and programs fundamentally strengthens their evidence base. Here are some examples of effective climate-related science-policy-program integration:

Climate change mitigation analysis

• Foundational effort in which science and policy perspectives were integrated at the onset
• Instrumental in securing funding and informing program design

Fertilizer target

• Science-based program design
• Science collaboration on impact assessment
• Providing ongoing science support to validate or invalidate practices

Business risk management and climate resilience

• Developing a novel policy instrument
• Establishing the foundation for future cross-compliance

Science partners and collaborations

AAFC works with partners to conduct collaborative research, and transfer knowledge that meets the sector's needs and advances innovation in science.

• Other federal government departments
• Academia
• Provinces and territories
• Industry
• Indigenous peoples
• International partners

STB supports Indigenous self-determination in food systems research, including agriculture, through projects and initiatives co-developed with Indigenous partners and communities, for example:

• Interdepartmental Indigenous STEM Cluster informs federal efforts towards Indigenous land-based research and environmental stewardship.

AAFC enhances agricultural science and knowledge exchange through international collaboration in order to: leverage science capacity; strengthen Canada's voice internationally; better respond to global urgencies; and support broader sector objectives with science.

Priority international partners:

• Australia
• Brazil
• European Union
• France
• Germany
• India
• Japan
• Netherlands
• South Korea
• United Kingdom
• United States

AAFC science supports international bodies:

• The G20
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases

Intellectual property development

AAFC maintains patents and ownership of plant genetics, technologies, concepts, and other scientific outputs developed by staff while they work at the Department and/or those who use the facilities, equipment, or financial aid provided by the Government of Canada.

The ownership of these assets allows AAFC to share its valuable outcomes to the benefit of Canadians through:

• The public release of this knowledge for application; or
• Licensing opportunities to generate funding for more research.

By owning this information, AAFC can also enhance existing value by using these patents as a building block in developing new innovations or knowledge.

AAFC's Intellectual Property and Commercialization (2022-2023)

• 142 Active patents in 26 countries for 52 technologies
• 661 Active licenses for technologies and varieties
• 488 AAFC-developed varieties currently sold
• 224 Collaborative agreements executed with external parties in 2022-23
• 119 Material transfer agreements for AAFC material executed in 2022-23
• 3,702 Active research agreements

Success stories

• World leader in the discovery and development of disease-resistant canola germplasm.
• Improved crop diversity, yield and reduced soil erosion with zero tillage practices.
• Developed midge-tolerant wheat varieties.
• Conducted beef research to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
• Established a nationwide network of 13 living labs for collaborative climate change research.

Our scientific breakthroughs are helping to:

• Provide safe and sustainable crop protection
• Build resilience in the fight against climate change
• Ensure access to healthy food and reduce food waste
• Provide food security in northern and Indigenous communities, and more...

Science and innovation is central to the mandate of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and key to positioning the sector for growth, competitiveness and resilience.

A strong regional and national science and innovation capacity:

• 717 scientists
• 1,584 science support staff
• 20 research and development centres
• 29 satellite research locations
• 628 active research and development projects

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Strategic Plan for Science

A detailed strategy that will guide the department's research and science activities over the next 10 years.

Key elements

• Mission-driven science
  • Focus science on defined goals/outcomes
  • Provide coordination and promote creativity to identify solution pathways
  • Resources are focused on transformation
• People first strategy
  • Build a diverse and inclusive workforce
  • Workforce talent will remain our most important asset
• Organizational effectiveness
  • Maximizing impact through knowledge mobilization
  • Focusing on reconciliation, inclusiveness and removing systemic barriers
  • Highest standards of integrity in research conduct

Four key science missions

• Mitigating and adapting to climate change.
• Increasing the resiliency of agro-ecosystems.
• Advancing the circular economy by developing value-added opportunities.
• Accelerating the digital transformation of the agriculture and agri-food sector.

Some of the efforts underway

Sustainable Agriculture Strategy

• Approaches to collectively address agri-environmental issues in the sector.

Climate Change Roadmap

• Identifies practices with the greatest potential for greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation.

Agricultural Climate Solutions — Living Labs | $185 million (2021-2031)

• Development of a Canada-wide collaborative network to tackle climate change using a Living Laboratory model, part of the $4 billion Natural Climate Solution Fund.

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (2023-2028)

• An agreement between the federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation, and resiliency of the agriculture, agri‐food and agri‐based products sector.

AgriScience Program | $325 million

• The Program aims to accelerate innovation by providing funding and support for pre-commercial science activities and research that benefits the agriculture and agri-food sector and Canadians.

AgriInnovate Program | $95.4 million

• Supports projects that result in commercialization, demonstration and/or adoption of commercial-ready innovative technologies and processes that produce competitiveness and sustainability benefits.

Supporting Indigenous-led agricultural research

AAFC is building stronger relationships with Indigenous Peoples and advancing reconciliation by supporting Indigenous-led agricultural research and increasing Indigenous representation in AAFC's science community.

Some scientific accomplishments

As part of an international team, AAFC scientists are using the latest satellite and Earth observation technology to enhance agricultural monitoring systems to help increase market transparency and improve food security.

AAFC researchers found a new sustainable and economical way to help producers protect their greenhouse vegetables from pests by encouraging the right predatory insects to do the work for them in exchange for a well-balanced diet.

In co-operation with industry, AAFC scientists developed a new web-based decision support tool to help producers get optimal quality and yield from their forages by providing producers with current and accessible weather information.

Summary

AAFC is a long-standing driver of science and innovation for the sector.

• Historic priorities around productivity, environment, attributes and pest management/disease resistance.
• Recent increased emphasis on resilience, climate change and transformative technologies in AAFC's Strategic Plan for Science.

With the sector increasingly seen as a priority for governments, increased investment in the sector has come from other areas, notably Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and their portfolio (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Strategic Innovation Fund, etc.).

The private sector and ag-innovation ecosystem continues to grow, attracting more investment and attention from non-traditional players.

But major challenges remain including climate change, labour, and global food security that need transformative solutions for production systems.

• Addressing these challenges will require continued increased investment in research and development (R&D) and other areas.
• Regulatory requirements may hinder or slow the deployment of new technologies.
• Better coordination across the ag innovation ecosystem towards common goals.

A range of programming and initiatives provide innovation support to the sector

New landscape presents opportunities for stakeholders and changing dynamics for AAFC and other departments

2017:

• AgriScience
• AgriInnovate
• Provincial and territorial programs
• Regional development agencies
• Industrial Research Assistance Program
• Genome Canada

2023:

• Canada Innovation Corporation ($2.6 billion)
• Global Innovation Clusters ($750 million, including $353 million (which includes $30 million from Pan-Canadian AI Strategy) for Protein Industries Canada)
• Strategic Innovation Fund, including Net Zero Accelerator ($8.2 billion, including $100 million in agriculture and agri-food sector)
• Canada Infrastructure Bank ($35 billion)
• Agricultural Clean Technology Program
• AgriScience
• AgriInnovate
• Provincial-territorial programs
• Regional development agencies
• Genome Canada
• Agriculture Research Initiative ($100 million)

As the innovation ecosystem grows and the level of interest and investment in agricultural technology and innovation rises, coordination among innovation ecosystem players becomes increasingly important to address the challenges faced by the sector

New players (for example, venture capital firms (VCs), incubators, accelerators) have joined the Canadian landscape and are actively looking for opportunities to accelerate agtech development.

Start-ups and large companies also increasingly play in the space, providing private sector leadership in identifying viable cleantech solutions.

Industry-led network approaches with a clear mandate to develop transformative solutions for the sector may lead to further improvements — government funding can help facilitate the creation and focus of such networks and de-risk R&D projects.

Private sector players helping to address structural challenges, for example, Starlink providing broadband alternatives to rural Canadians.

Agtech facilitators:

• Investors — VC — Lenders (for example, Business Development Canada)
• Academia (for example, universities)
• Federal initiatives and players (for example, federal departments like AAFC)
• Accelerator/incubator (for example, Climate Ventures)
• Research and tech centre (for example, FoodTech Canada)
• Provincial, territorial or municipal initiatives (for example, Innovate BC)

While Canada is seen as an attractive market for global agtech investment, some key competitors continue to ramp up investment too

Thrive, an accelerator in the agtech space, noted in a recent report that Canada is a big opportunity for agtech investors, ranking 10th in total VC investment in agtech between 2017 and 2022, ahead of Australia but behind Singapore.

• Also noted that for every $1 invested in Canadian agrifood tech companies, $20-$35 was invested in American ones.

Canada's food and beverage Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) expenditure was US$163 million in 2019, compared to US$5.24 billion in the United States, around 32 times Canada's investment.

Canada is also outpaced by the Netherlands, whose firms now spend more than US$350 million on food and beverage processing R&D annually.

The US recently enacted the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and introduced the $3 billion Partnership for Commodity-Smart Projects Program, which will encourage innovative, market-based solutions to meet environmental and greenhouse gas (GHG) goals.

Canada has been keeping pace with competitors in terms of number of deals, but lags behind the US in terms of average deal size.

Challenges persist in funding and development of agricultural innovation

Industry-driven prioritization of innovation is generally shorter-term, which limits ability and funds to focus on longer-term, transformational priorities.

Despite longstanding efforts and incentives to develop industry leadership in R&D, government remains the primary funder of R&D.

• For example, some parts of Canada's agrifood sector have relatively low levels of R&D and slow pace to adopt new technologies and practices when compared to other important industries in Canada.

Sector faces structural challenges when it comes to adopting and developing new innovations:

• Complex regulatory system (administrative burden, long approval times)
• Difficulty in encouraging behaviour change, demonstrating value to farmers; overcoming technical barriers
• Low profit margins and high capital costs — benefits of investment relative to firms' return on investment targets
• Fragmented innovation ecosystem
• Technological gaps — lack of automation tech that can match human vision/dexterity; de-risking tech development/demonstration and adoption
• Lack of infrastructure, including rural broadband connectivity
• Skills gap — R&D; technicians
• Small and medium sized enterprises with limited R&D capacity; multinational companies conducting R&D in other jurisdictions

Pace of adoption and innovation must accelerate in order to significantly reduce emissions and respond to global food security needs

Canada's regulatory landscape can be tricky to navigate but is evolving

Agriculture and agri-food sector regulations cross many dimensions, including food safety and security, animal and plant health, impacts on the environment, market access, innovation and the social and economic well-being of Canadians.

Agri-food innovation exists in a unique regulatory environment where technology and innovation development are strongly tied to regulatory mandates of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada.

Work being done to make the regulatory framework more responsive and agile, including novel approaches to regulatory innovation:

• The Agri-Food and Aquaculture Regulatory Review cemented key industry priority areas related to food labeling, plant breeding innovation, the Canada Grain Act, and more strategic engagement.
• Establishing the Agile Regulations Table, an industry-government forum for advancing priorities and regulatory innovation.
• Further supporting the development of pilot projects in regulatory experimentation building on existing efforts on drones, novel fertilizers.

Stakeholders continue to point to regulatory system challenges associated with:

• Not keeping pace with change
• Lack of focus on competitiveness or priority areas
• Complexity, unnecessary administrative burden
• Long approval times
• Unpredictability

While improvements in greenhouse gas intensity have been made, a transformative shift is needed to help Canada reach its Net Zero goal

Decoupling of agricultural emissions from GDP

Source: NIR Statistics Canada, AAFC's calculations

• Agriculture accounts for about 10% of Canada's total GHG emissions; animal production was the largest source of emissions, followed by crop production and on-farm fuel use
• Agricultural production's value has almost doubled in the last 20 years while total GHG emissions have increased only slightly
• As a result, emission intensity (the ratio of net emissions to real GDP) has been decreasing

Trends in agricultural GHGs are driven by market forces and technology

• Adoption of existing technologies and beneficial management practices, and shifts in existing production patterns, will not be enough given the scale of the challenge facing the sector.
• The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) recently highlighted the potential role that technologies like precision agriculture; carbon capture, storage and utilization; anaerobic digesters; vertical farming; and cellular agriculture, among others, could play in reducing GHGs while increasing growth.

Canada's approach to supporting sustainable agriculture through innovation and beneficial practices:

• Investments in technology — programs that help drive changes to achieve low-carbon economy and promote sustainable growth.
• Incentives for adopting on-farm practices — programs that support producers to provide public benefits like climate change mitigation, improved biodiversity and water management.
• Science and research — initiatives that support producer efforts to reduce impact on the environment while improving productivity.

AAFC is evolving to better reflect Canada's priorities and a changing innovation ecosystem

Greater emphasis on emerging priorities (for example, agtech, automation) with climate change as a key priority.

• Expanding Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) program, shifting priorities in our AgriScience and AgriInnovate programs to better reflect climate change and other priorities.
• Broadening the range of partners to match the growing range of players and opportunities, take on more risky projects and consider incubation/accelerator and more challenge programming.
• Organizing our own science agenda along "missions" with Strategic Plan for Science and new science portfolios.
• Broader initiatives like the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy and Climate Change Roadmap Phase 2 will help shape future innovation agenda.

While adjustments to programs and policy can improve relevance and effectiveness, there are limitations:

• Limited funding envelope; broad range of stakeholder demands; emphasis on research that continues to improve current production systems incrementally.
• Unable to fund large transformational or capital projects (for example, AgriInnovate has a maximum of $10 million per project; ACT, $5 million).
• Transformational change will require risk-taking — no clear consensus on what level of risk AAFC is willing to take on.

This highlights the importance of continued interdepartmental collaboration and whole-of-government approaches.

AAFC is working with other government departments and stakeholders to support ag innovation and address the needs of the sector

Government engagement efforts:

• Working with ISED to develop an agriculture sector policy paper which will inform their industrial strategy for next iteration of the Strategic Innovation Fund; ultimately helping ag sector innovation.
• Providing agriculture sector advice to Infrastructure Canada and the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to help inform investment decisions.
• Helping shape the Agriculture Research Initiative with Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)/Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SHRCC).
• Interdepartmental working group on biotechnology.
• Investment attraction coordination with Global Affairs Canada (GAC); Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC); ISED; and others.
• Engaging partners on data privacy and cybersecurity solutions.
• Working with Natural Resources Canada on mechanisms to support the Canadian biofuels sector.

Stakeholder engagement effort:

• Agile Regulations Table regulatory experimentation working group on drones
• Ag Robotics Working group with sector and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
• Strategic dialogue sessions with Canadian Food Innovators Network
• On-going investment attraction engagement
• Sustainable Agriculture Strategy

Annex A: The Government of Canada has introduced significant initiatives which build on a strong foundation of innovation support

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP):

• Federal-only initiatives: AgriScience and AgriInnovate
• Federal-provincial-terrirorial cost-shared initiatives including Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program ($250 million)

Agricultural Clean Technology Program ($495.7 million), and Agricultural Climate Solutions ($855 million, plus $34.1 million in Budget 2023 for fertilizer use optimization).

Other commitments under Budget 2022 and 2022 Fall Economic Statement, which may support sector innovation:

• $100 million to granting councils towards science for sustainable agriculture.
• Additional funding for Global Innovation Clusters, which brought total investment in Protein Industries Canada to $353 million (including $30 million through the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy).
• Canada Growth Fund (CGF) and the Canadian Innovation Corporation (CIC).

Budget 2023 commitments in support of agriculture and agri-food growth include engagement on Growing Canada's Biofuels Sector, Right to Repair/interoperability for farm equipment, Investing in Clean Electricity (including in rural areas).

AAFC's Strategic Plan for Science is aimed at establishing a sustainable transformation towards a more profitable, competitive, innovative, and productive sector, and will continue to build science capacity in the sector to drive development of a knowledge economy.

Annex B: Mission-driven science under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Strategic Plan for Science

• Innovation
• Competitiveness
• Productivity
• Profitability

Mitigating and adapting to climate change

• A profitable sector that excels in a low carbon economy

Increasing the resiliency of agro-ecosystems

• A competitive sector that manages stress

Advancing the circular economy by developing value-added opportunities

• Attributes that meet market demands

Accelerating the digital transformation of the sector

• A productive and efficient data-driven sector

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada programs

Suite of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada programs to address business, environmental and emerging risks, and drive innovation and growth

Risk management (outside Sustainable CAP programming)

Canadian Agricultural Loans Act | $75 million (ongoing loan program)

• Provides easier access to credit to establish, improve and develop farms, and loans to process, distribute or market the products of farming

Advance Payments Program | $2.8 billion (ongoing advance program)

• Provides easier access to credit through cash advances to support flexible marketing decisions

Price Pooling Program | $45.9 million (ongoing price guarantee program)

• Provides a price guarantee that protects marketing agencies and producers against unanticipated declines in the market price of their products

Livestock Price Insurance (5-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Allows western Canadian producers to purchase price protection on cattle and hogs in the form of insurance policy

Environment

Agricultural Clean Technology Program | $495.7 million (7-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Supports research, development and adoption of clean technologies
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

Agricultural Climate Solutions — On-Farm Climate Action Fund | $670 million (7-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Supports adoption of greenhouse gas reduction practices on-farm
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

Agricultural Climate Solutions — Living Labs Program | $185 million (10-year program, ends March 31, 2031)

• Convenes stakeholders to facilitate development and application of on-farm practices with environmental benefits focused on greenhouse gas sequestration and mitigation
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

Supply management

Dairy Direct Payment Program | $1.2 billion (6-year program, ends March 31, 2029)

• Payments to help cow milk producers transition to new market realities from Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)

Supply Management Processing Investment Fund | $397.5 million (6-year program, ends March 31, 2028)

• Helps processors of supply-managed commodities adapt to market changes resulting from the implementation of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and CUSMA

Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program | $759 million (10-year program, ends March 31, 2031)

• Helps supply-managed poultry and egg producers adapt to market changes resulting from the CPTPP and CUSMA
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken | $44 million (10-year program, ends March 31, 2031)

• Helps increase domestic demand and consumption of Canadian poultry products
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

Innovation

Innovative Solutions Canada | $3.9 million (annual program)

• Federal projects to support growth of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) innovations and solutions to sector challenges

Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program | $50.3 million (ongoing program renews every 5 years, renewal date March 31, 2024)

• Supports sector to seize opportunities, respond to emerging issues, and pilot solutions to adapt and remain competitive

Food

Food Waste Reduction Challenge | $20 million (5-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Supports solutions to food waste and loss across the supply chain, thereby reducing the associated economic, environmental and social costs of food waste

Local Food Infrastructure Fund | $70 million (5-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Aims to strengthen food systems and facilitate access to safe/nutritious food for communities
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

AgriCommunication Program | $8 million (3-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Federal initiative supporting activities which increase appreciation and pride in the contributions of farmers and the food industry and enhance public trust
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

Other

Youth Employment and Skills Program | $1.2 million (ongoing program)

• Additional funding of $12.3 million will be provided for 2023-24 and 2024-25
• Funds agricultural work internships for youth and youth facing barriers
• Includes measures to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups

International Collaboration Program | $1.2 million (annual program)

• Supports a range of international memberships and projects aimed at advancing AAFC's International Strategy

Wine Sector Support Program | $166 million (2-year program, ends March 31, 2024)

• Short-term support to licensed Canadian wineries to adapt to challenges impacting financial resilience and competitiveness

African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program | $23.4 million (3-year program, ends March 31, 2025)

• Helps the pork sector prevent and prepare for potential outbreak of African Swine Fever

Farm Debt Mediation Service (ongoing program)

• Offers free financial counselling and mediation services to farmers who are having difficulties meeting their financial obligations

The United States Inflation Reduction Act shows that Canada's competitors are investing aggressively in sustainable agriculture

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes US$19.5 billion towards agricultural conservation programming:

• Estimated that total environmental program support to United States producers may rise from $8.14/acre in 2021 to $17.21/acre by 2024 with IRA.
• In comparison, Canada spent $4.28/acre in 2021.

The IRA also includes tax credits to incentivize United States-based production of biofuels and sustainable aviation fuels, over $2 billion in loan/grant funding to renewable energy in rural areas, and assistance to rural electricity cooperatives.

Beyond the IRA, the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities looks to create market-based incentives and monetize commodities produced using practices that mitigate GHG emissions:

• Over US$3.1 billion in grants towards 141 projects which could reduce GHG emissions by 60 million metric tonnes of CO² equivalents (~9% of U.S. agricultural emissions).
• Projects to pilot innovative methods for measurement, reporting, verification of GHG.

The IRA may have significant competitiveness impacts for the sector:

• In the short-term: The new Renewable Fuels Production Tax Credit (to be introduced in 2025) could impact Canada's biofuels sector by jeopardizing planned investments in biofuel production facilities.
• In the medium-term: United States producers may get a competitive edge over Canada in sustainable agricultural production thanks to the adoption of conservation practices and Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs), innovative technologies, as well as tools that may help farmers monetize their conservation practices.

Agriculture is an area of shared jurisdiction

Section 95 of the Constitution Act (1867) establishes that jurisdiction over primary agriculture is concurrent for federal and provincial and territorial (FPT) governments.

While both orders of government can create their own agricultural programming, some areas of jurisdiction are clear:

• Section 91(2) gives the federal government jurisdiction over international and inter-provincial trade and commerce.
• Provinces have responsibility for intra-provincial trade and commerce under Section 92(13).
• The federal spending power also enables the advancement of national priorities.

Overall, the FPT relationship in agriculture is strong and characterized by close collaboration in order to maximize benefits and investments for a competitive and sustainable agriculture and agri-food sector.

FPT collaboration occurs on many levels

Ministers engage multilaterally through the FPT Ministers of Agriculture Table to set overall FPT policy direction in key areas such as the environment, discuss programming enhancements, such as for the Business Risk Management suite, and to address emerging challenges and threats (for example, African swine fever; avian influenza).

The bilateral FPT relationships complement multilateral efforts, and address the varied local, unique issues such as PT-tailored AgriRecovery responses to disasters (floods and droughts) and research and science partnerships to address the needs of the jurisdiction.

Finally, there are areas where separate federal and PT action also occurs — the federal government has the discretion to create federal-only policies/programs (for example, Agricultural Clean Technology), as do the provinces and territories (for example, domestic market development).

The FPT model is strengthened through agricultural policy frameworks

The FPT relationship is formalized through successive five-year agricultural policy frameworks which define policy priorities and associated programming and funding levels, including how partners will work together.

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), the fifth in a series of framework agreements dating back to 2003, was launched on April 1, 2023 (to March 31, 2028) and replaced the previous Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP).

The Sustainable CAP sets out a common vision and priorities for a five-year $3.5 billion investment by FPT governments ($1 billion in federal-only and $2.5 billion for cost-shared) to strengthen and grow Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector. This includes a new cost-shared Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program (RALP) to be administered by PTs which supports ecological goods and services provided by the agriculture sector.

Through the Partnership,

• Cost-shared program details are defined in bilateral agreements between the federal government and each province/territory at a 60:40 funding ratio.
• PTs deliver the cost-shared programming in their jurisdictions.
• Federal-only programs are delivered by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

Strengths of the framework approach

National outcomes with regional adaptability

• Common policy priorities and objectives bring greater consistency and clarity for the sector wherever they live in Canada, with flexibility based on commodities, conditions, local delivery and administration.

Maximizing investments

• Leveraging FPT resources (60:40 F:PT cost share), while ensuring predictable supports through a common vision and priorities.

Minimizing trade risks

• Ensuring that supports given to producers are compliant with our current trade obligations.

Coordination to overcome barriers and collaboration on cross-cutting issues

• Arrangements exist between AAFC portfolio agencies and PT governments on issues relating to regulatory matters such as: food, animal health and plant protection, supply management and grain handling.
• AAFC and PTs work together, for example, with their respective departments of labour and skills development to advance efforts in recruitment, skills and training.

Key AAFC roles

National policy development, such as:

• Working to access and develop new markets for the benefit of the entire sector;
• Ensuring producers and processors have access to the best science and innovation;
• Achieving national coherence in priority areas, such as addressing environment and climate change.

Ensuring complementarity of actions and accountability for investments.

• Seeking multilateral action in certain cases while also pursuing federal-only action in others to balance national outcomes with regional flexibilities;
• Support the collection of data and reporting of results achieved through the Sustainable CAP initiatives.

Facilitating relationships between PTs and other federal departments and agencies on items that intersect with their mandates.

• Labour and temporary foreign workers (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada), trade (Global Affairs Canada), regulations (Canadian Food Inspection Agency), aquaculture (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), movement of goods (Transport Canada).

Annual Conference and FPT tables

An Annual Conference of FPT Agriculture Ministers occurs in person every July to set policy direction and foster collaboration on common issues.

The federal minister co-chairs the FPT Table with a provincial or territorial co-chair that rotates on an annual basis. Yukon is the co-chair for 2023-2024.

• The PT co-chair hosts the Annual Conference. The most recent was in Fredericton, New Brunswick on July 19 to 21, 2023 and the next will be on July 17 to 19, 2024 in Whitehorse, Yukon.
• The Annual Conference also offers opportunities for sector engagement and to showcase regional agriculture in the host location.

The Ministers' Table is supported by ongoing meetings of FPT Deputy Ministers (DM) and Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADM).

• Typically, the DM Table meets every six to eight weeks and the ADM Table every four weeks.
• Discussions at the Ministers, DMs and ADMs' Tables range from the latest emerging issues impacting the agriculture and agri-food sector and ways to mitigate those impacts (for example, African swine fever, labour challenges, avian influenza), to longer-term priorities that drive the agricultural agenda forward (climate change resiliency, trade opportunities).

Current and ongoing FPT priorities

The FPT table has been seized with a number of topics, which are expected to be discussed at upcoming engagements:

• African Swine Fever (ASF): Industry engagement and agreement on immediate response programming to prepare for ASF
• Business Risk Management (BRM) programming: Programming improvements and BRM reviews related to environmental considerations
• Grocery Sector Code of Conduct: Supplier-retailer relationship and development and implementation of an industry-led Code
• Environment: Discussion on key federal initiatives, fertilizers and other environmental files and issues related to climate change
• Labour: Initiatives to deal with labour shortages
• Trade and market access issues
• Other: Pilots to facilitate interprovincial trade; tackling avian influenza; discussions around foot and mouth disease preparedness; antimicrobial resistance; mitigating bee shortages, Animal Health Canada; science and technology opportunities; potential strikes and labour action; etc.

Next steps

It is recommended that you hold bilateral introductory calls with PTs shortly after joining the department, beginning with your PT co-chair (Yukon's Minister, John Streicker).

Officials will be establishing the broader forward path of meetings for FPT DMs and ADMs leading to the Ministers' Annual Conference in July. This will include determining key areas of focus to permit strategic discussions and decisions among Ministers for the July 2024 Annual Conference.

Annex — PT landscape: British Columbia

• The British Columbia primary agriculture sector produced $4.4 billion in 2021 farm cash receipts, with agriculture and agri-food representing 2.5% of provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• Currently dealing with impacts of drought/wildfires, which has been a growing concern over the last couple of years. ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
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Annex — PT landscape: Alberta

• The Alberta primary agriculture sector produced $18.7 billion in 2021 farm cash receipts, with agriculture and agri-food representing 2.5% of provincial GDP.
• Sector has faced extreme weather conditions this year (wildfires, drought).
• Canada's largest beef-producing province, with the largest beef processing facilities. █████████████████████████████████████████████████
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Annex — PT landscape: Saskatchewan

• Saskatchewan's primary agriculture sector produced $19.1 billion in 2021 farm cash receipts, with agriculture and agri-food representing 6.9% of provincial GDP.
• Sector has faced extreme weather conditions this year (wildfires, drought).
• Largest agriculture producing province, it is the top producer of wheat, canola, oats, flax, dry peas, lentils and chickpeas and has large beef and hog sectors.
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Annex — PT landscape: Manitoba

• The Manitoba primary agriculture sector produced $8.5 billion in 2021 farm cash receipts, with agriculture and agri-food representing 7% of provincial GDP.
• Manitoba is the national leader in developing emerging sectors, including plant-based technology (proteins) and value-added processing.
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Annex — PT landscape: Ontario

• Ontario's primary agriculture sector produced $18.9 billion in 2021 farm cash receipts, with agriculture and agri-food representing 3.1% of provincial GDP.
• Largest employer of TFWs ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
• Second largest hog producing province █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
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Annex — PT landscape: Quebec

• The Quebec primary agriculture sector produced $11.2 billion in 2021 farm cash receipts, with agriculture and agri-food representing 3.4% of provincial GDP.
• Quebec Minister Lamontagne is the Provincial co-chair with the AAFC Minister on the retail fees issue, which is working to support industry in developing a Grocery Sector Code of Conduct. ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
• Largest hog producing province and wants to ensure a coordinated FPT ASF response plan. █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
• Second largest employer of TFWs ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
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Annex — PT landscape: Atlantic Canada

• The Atlantic agriculture sector is small compared to the rest of the country but still accounts for a sizable percentage of provincial GDP.
  • New Brunswick: $1 billion in 2021 farm cash receipts, with 4.8% of provincial GDP (agriculture and agri-food only).
  • Nova Scotia: $673 million in 2021 farm cash receipts, representing 2.7% of provincial GDP (agriculture and agri-food only).
  • Prince Edward Island: $568 million in 2021 farm cash receipts, representing 8.6% of provincial GDP (agriculture and agri-food only).
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: $145 million in 2021 farm cash receipts, representing 1.9% of provincial GDP (agriculture and agri-food only).
• The Atlantic provinces are generally aligned and tend to coordinate efforts on key agriculture issues.
• Several Atlantic provinces are still dealing with repercussions from recent events, including major climate issues with hurricane Fiona in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and potato wart in Prince Edward Island.

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Annex — PT landscape: Territories

• The three territories have a small, but growing agriculture sector. Primary agriculture represents less than 1% of GDP in each of the territories.
• There is minimal participation of the territories in BRM programming; Yukon has been the only territory participating in past frameworks, but Northwest Territories is now participating for Sustainable CAP.
• Regional flexibility is key in developing programming, in recognition of the unique climate of the North.
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Overview of sector stakeholders

The agriculture portfolio has one of the most expansive and active networks of stakeholders, representing the diversity of the sector, the interests of their members and the breadth of the food system (see Annex). They include:

• Cross sector associations (for example, Canadian Federation of Agriculture);
• National sector associations (for example, Canadian Cattle Association);
• Regional sector associations (for example, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers);
• Value chain associations (for example, Canola Council of Canada);
• Producers, processors, academia and other representatives (for example, input suppliers, retailers and technology providers); and
• Others involved in the food system (for example, 4H Canada, Farmers for Climate Solutions, food security organizations, innovation accelerators).

Stakeholder associations perform a variety of functions for their members such as promotion and marketing, collaborating with other organizations to advance interests and regularly engaging with governments on priorities.

Importance of sector engagement

Engagement with stakeholders is critical to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's (AAFC) work and supports many objectives:

• Provides the department with producer and processor perspectives to inform policy and program development;
• Builds trust and regional intelligence to enable quick responses, particularly in times of emergency (for example, Vancouver, British Columbia port strike and Public Service Alliance of Canada labour disruption);
• Offers a means to communicate with, mobilize and consult a broad membership within the agricultural sector;
• Enables the Department to partner with the sector in the delivery of specialized programming (for example, science and research); and
• Offers specialized knowledge to the department through organizational reports and data collection (for example, information on labour shortages).

Certain stakeholders also perform public functions, such as delegation of legislative responsibilities (for example, National Marketing Boards for supply managed products and Promotion and Research Agencies) and setting standards for members (for example, the Dairy Farmers of Canada ProAction Initiative).

How AAFC engages

Extensive engagement, consultation and collaboration with stakeholders are built into many aspects of the department's work in order to ensure policies, programs and activities are designed and delivered effectively.

AAFC has a number of existing formal and informal mechanisms to engage with the sector. These include:

• National consultations on major policies (for example, the national engagement sessions on the next policy framework);
• Forming government–industry working groups on key issues (for example, supply management compensation and the Industry-Government Advisory Committee on traceability);
• The creation of bodies through ministerial appointment to advise on issues (for example, National Program Advisory Committee, Canadian Agricultural Youth Council, Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council); and
• Working with stakeholders bilaterally and at the local level through regional offices on emerging issues (for example, labour disruptions, drought conditions).

Sector Engagement Tables

Sector Engagement Tables (SETs) create a forum for strategic dialogue amongst government and industry in order to collectively advance sector growth and competitiveness. SETs were established in response to the Economic Strategy Tables led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and build on a previous AAFC engagement model. SETs are co-chaired by industry and government representatives. The SET model is led by the Leadership Table, co-chaired by the Deputy Minister.

Thematic Engagement Tables (strategic plans established)

Focus on systemic, cross-cutting issues that affect the sector as a whole

• Agile regulations
• Sustainability
• Consumer demand and market trends
• Skills development

Sector Tables

Five tables that focus on implementing solutions to systemic issues in context of their sub-sectors.

• Animal protein
• Field crops
• Horticulture
• Seafood
• Food manufacturing

Leadership Table

• Membership includes industry and government co-chairs of the Thematic Tables and Sector Tables, the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council, and the Food Policy Advisory Council.
• Role is to oversee a bold and robust strategic direction for the tables, and to identify emerging/new priorities where tables may need to focus.
• AAFC is preparing a communications and collaboration strategy for SETs to increase awareness across the sector and departments.

Engagement Tables for underrepresented groups

Distinct tables to work collaboratively with groups underrepresented in the sector

• Canadian Agricultural Youth Council
• Indigenous Sector Engagement Table

AAFC also collaborates across the federal government to bring sector perspectives to horizontal initiatives

Environment and clean technology

• Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)

Market development and trade

• Global Affairs Canada (GAC)

Food security

• Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Health Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), GAC and ECCC

Reconciliation

• CIRNAC, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)

Labour

• ESDC, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Service Canada

Policy and financial issues, tax policy

• Privy Council Office (PCO), Finance and Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS)

Data development and analysis

• Statistics Canada

Youth

• Heritage Canada

Supply chains

• Transport Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

Regulatory system

• CFIA, ECCC, TBS, PHAC and Health Canada

Innovation and growth

• ISED, Regional Development Agencies

Seafood and aquaculture

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)

Examples of recent strategic engagement

• Targeted engagement will continue throughout 2023 as the department develops both the Agricultural Labour Strategy and the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy.
• The Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council is comprised of diverse stakeholders and partners and advises the Minister on food systems challenges and opportunities related to their mandate and leadership for the Food Policy for Canada. AAFC is currently accepting applications for new Council members until August 17, 2023.
• On international trade, the department consults through the Agriculture Trade Negotiations Consultative Group, made up of key industry groups. This engagement intensifies when trade negotiations are active or when a trade irritant is identified.
• Prioritization of targeted engagement of underrepresented and marginalized groups: strategic forums including the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council, Ad Hoc Women's Roundtables, and engagement with Indigenous Peoples. Developing an Indigenous Sector Engagement Table. Other targeted engagement with Métis partners in May 2023 and First Nations focus group sessions in June 2023 on the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy.
• Challenges associated with the availability of labour, in particular temporary foreign workers, continue to be a priority issue. The Department continues to engage with stakeholders and federal partners to find solutions to identified labour challenges.

Annex: Key stakeholders

Cross-sectoral associations

• The Canadian Federation of Agriculture is a national umbrella organization representing producers, composed of provincial general farm organizations and national and interprovincial commodity groups. The Union des producteurs agricoles is the largest and most active of the provincial organizations.
• The Canadian Organic Growers is a national organization representing organic producers with emphasis on extension services for organic and transitioning producers. The Organic Federation of Canada is the national lead on organics standards development.

Livestock production

• Canadian Bison Association
• Canadian Cattle Association
• Canadian Pork Council
• Canada Mink Breeders Association
• Canadian Sheep Federation (British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Atlantic)
• Livestock Markets Association of Canada
• National Cattle Feeders' Association
• National Sheep Network (Alberta, Ontario and Quebec)

Supply management groups

• Canadian Hatching Egg Producers
• Chicken Farmers of Canada
• Dairy Farmers of Canada
• Egg Farmers of Canada
• Turkey Farmers of Canada

Field crops

• Barley Council of Canada
• Canada Grains Council
• Canadian Canola Growers Association
• Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance
• Canadian Seed Growers' Association
• Canola Council of Canada
• Cereals Canada
• CropLife Canada
• Grain Growers of Canada
• Prairie Oat Growers Association
• Pulse Canada
• Seeds Canada
• Soy Canada
• Western Grain Elevator Association

Horticulture

• Canadian Honey Council
• Canadian Nursery Landscape Association
• Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance
• Canadian Produce Marketing Association
• Flowers Canada Growers
• Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada
• Mushrooms Canada

Fish, seafood and aquaculture

• Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
• Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters
• Canadian Organic Seafood Association
• Fisheries Council of Canada
• Lobster Council of Canada

Processing

• Canadian Meat Council
• Canadian National Millers Association
• Canadian Oilseed Processors Association
• Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council
• Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition
• Dairy Processors Association of Canada
• Food and Beverage Canada
• Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada
• Food Processing Skills Canada
• Food Producers of Canada

Retail and food service

• Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers
• Restaurants Canada
• Retail Council of Canada

Trade

• Canada Beef Inc
• Canada Pork International
• Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
• Canada Organic Trade Association
• Canadian Sugar Institute

Food security

• Breakfast Club of Canada
• Coalition for Healthy School Food
• Community Food Centres Canada
• Farm to Cafeteria Canada
• Food Banks Canada
• Food Communities Network
• Food Secure Canada
• Foodshare
• La Tablée des Chefs (in French only)
• Second Harvest

Others

• Agriculture in the Classroom Canada
• Animal Health Canada
• BIOTECanada
• Bioindustrial Innovation Canada
• Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council
• Canadian Agricultural Safety Association
• Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network
• Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute
• Canadian Animal Health Institute
• Canadian Centre for Food Integrity
• Canadian Food Innovation Network
• Farm Management Canada
• Fertilizer Canada
• Protein Industries Canada
• Renewable Industries Canada

Youth

• 4-H Canada
• Young Agrarians
• Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers

Women

• Ag Women's Network
• Fédération des Agricultrices du Québec (in French only)

Indigenous rightsholders

• Assembly of First Nations
• Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
• Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
• Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers
• Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
• Métis National Council
• National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association
• Native Women's Association of Canada

Event name: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) Food Security Ministerial

Date(s): August 3, 2023

Location: Seattle, Washington, USA

Format of event: In-person meetings

Description of event/stakeholders: United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Vilsack will chair; goal is to promote projects and actions to improve productivity, trade, and food security.

Objective: This will be an opportunity to engage with Secretary Vilsack, and support an agenda that is important for him and the United States. It is also very likely that the Minister will have the opportunity to meet bilaterally with the Secretary.

Advocate and defend Canadian agricultural agendas including open trade, science and innovation to achieve sustainability and inclusion to engage new participants in agriculture.

As needed, counter dis-information from Russia about global food security. Encourage APEC to focus on partnership with the private sector to identify, and fix, barriers to trade and production.

Priority area: Trade and Market Development

Lead Branch/Directorate: Market and Industry Services Branch (MISB) to lead on APEC; International Affairs Branch (IAB) to lead on bilateral meeting program and any additional market outreach.

Event name: Tentative — Team Canada Trade Mission to India

Date(s): October 9 to 13, 2023

Location: Mumbai and other cities (TBC)

Format of event: In-person event

Description of event/stakeholders: The Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development is leading a multi-sector trade mission to India. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has noted that other Ministers are welcome to participate under the Indo-Pacific Strategy Trade Team Canada Mission (TTCM) initiative.

The business delegations could include up to 100 companies (TBC). Agriculture and value-add food companies are eligible for the mission and the Minister could join the outgoing trade missions to support Canada's agri-food sector. While in-market, meetings with government officials could be organized, and/or site visits to advance trade priorities.

Travel to secondary markets on the margins of the Team Canada Trade Mission could be organized.

The Minister could be accompanied by the Assistant Deputy Minister, IAB.

Objective: Support the Government's Indo-Pacific Strategy

Priority area: Trade and Market Development

Lead Branch/Directorate: IAB Market Development Division (MDD) and Market Access Secretariat (MAS)

Event name: Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) hosted by the North American Agriculture Advisory Network (NAAAN)

Date(s): October 17 to 19, 2023

Location: Denver, Colorado, USA

Format of event: In-person event

Description of event/stakeholders: The NAAAN is hosting the 2023 Annual Meeting of the GFRAS, an organization that connects and supports multiple regional agricultural advisory networks around the world and serves as a platform for networking, knowledge sharing and advocacy.

Objective: Support agriculture and information sharing

Priority area: Market access

Lead Branch/Directorate: IAB MAS

Event name: Tentative — Team Canada Trade Mission to Japan

Date(s): October 29 to November 2, 2023

Location: Osaka and Tokyo

Format of event: In-person event

Description of event/stakeholders: The Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development is leading a multi-sector trade mission to Japan under the Indo-Pacific Strategy TTCM initiation. GAC has noted that other Ministers are welcome to participate.

The business delegation could include up to 100 companies (TBC). Agriculture and value-add food companies are eligible for the mission — it is anticipated 30 to 40 agriculture and food companies could register. The Minister could join the outgoing trade missions to support Canada's agri-food industry trade efforts.

While in-market, meetings with government officials could be organized, and/or site visits to advance trade priorities.

Travel to secondary markets on the margins of the Team Canada Trade Mission could be organized, such as Korea.

The Minister could be accompanied by the Assistant Deputy Minister, IAB.

Objective: Support the Government's Indo-Pacific Strategy

Priority area: Trade and Market Development

Lead Branch/Directorate: IAB MDD and MAS

Event name: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 28

Date(s): November 30 to December 12, 2023

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Format of event: In-person event

Description of event/stakeholders: The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP28, is the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference.

Objective: Support climate change in agriculture and sustainable trade

Priority area: Market access

Lead Branch/Directorate: IAB MAS