Budget 2022 and Canada's Agriculture and Agri-Food Sector

Budget 2022
 

The Budget ensures that Canada's agricultural sector will continue to grow and strengthen food security for all Canadians, including vulnerable populations.

Reflecting the critical role of our sector, it helps to create the conditions for farmers, processors and the agricultural sector to prosper. It also includes important investments for the environment, innovation, labour and supply chain resiliency.

Here are some highlights of proposed funding and initiatives with direct links to, or supported by, the agriculture and agri-food sector:

Climate and the environment in the agriculture sector

Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan

With an investment of over $1 billion in new funding, Budget 2022 the Canadian agriculture sector will be a global leader in sustainable agriculture, and realize its potential to significantly reduce GHG emissions.

  • $470 million on top of the existing On-Farm Climate Action Fund.
  • $330 million in the Agricultural Clean Technology program to triple the size of the program.
  • $150 million for a resilient agricultural landscapes program to support carbon sequestration, adaptation and address other environmental co-benefits.
  • $100 million to the federal granting councils to support post-secondary research in developing technologies and crop varieties to allow for net-zero emission agriculture.

Enhancing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

$156 million to support the health, safety and quality of life of those who come to in Canada. Measures include $29.3 million to create a Trusted Employer Model, $48.2 million to implement a new foreign labour program for agriculture and fish processing, $64.6 million to increasing capacity to reduce processing time of employer applications, and $14.6 to improving the quality of employer inspections.

Floods and potato wart

  • $120 million AgriRecovery response initiative to support BC farmers who suffered extraordinary damages in the devastating floods.
  • $16 million over two years to support long-term investments and assist in stabilizing the Prince Edward Island potato sector and supply chain.
  • $12 million over two years to accelerate the investigation into the latest detection of potato wart to help prevent its spread within Canada or abroad, and to preserve market access and trade arrangements.

Next Policy Framework

Federal, provincial, and territorial governments will work together over the coming year to renew the programs under the next agricultural policy framework (Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership).

Full and fair compensation for supply managed sectors

The government will announce full and fair compensation for the supply managed sector related to the new NAFTA in the 2022 fall economic and fiscal update.

National School Food Policy and Program

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, will work with the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, and partners and stakeholders, to develop a National School Food Policy and explore how more Canadian children can receive nutritious food at school.

The Budget also outlines a number of new initiatives across government to improve supply chains, bolster innovation and fight climate change.

For more information, visit the Budget 2022 page.

Related Information

New partnership to fund research collaborations focused on sustainable agriculture - Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

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