Government must do more to make Canada an ag and food superpower

Canada can be an agriculture and food superpower if it shifts from exporting raw commodities to building a value-added food processing industry, authors David Dzisiak and Frank Hart argue in a Globe and Mail op-ed. 

They note that Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to double non-U.S. exports by 2035 and calls Canada an “unabashed” energy superpower, but agriculture and food production should receive similar prominence in national economic strategy. 

Dzisiak, a director of Protein Industries Canada, and Hart, a former Saskatchewan deputy minister of economic development and trade, say Canada’s $100-billion-plus agri-food export sector could add tens of billions to GDP as global demand for protein rises, particularly in Asia, where the plant protein market is projected to exceed $25-billion by 2033. 

However, they warn that capital shortages and risk-averse investment have slowed domestic processing, arguing that “The government must do more” to support scaling companies through tax incentives and financing programs. 

With strong public support and low-carbon farms, they conclude that Canada has “a generational opportunity to convert its agricultural advantage into a high-value, globally competitive industry.”