Canada’s agriculture leaders, including from aquaculture, are calling on Ottawa to treat food production as a pillar of economic policy and a foundation for national growth.
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
Agriculture leaders are pressing Prime Minister Mark Carney to position farming at the heart of Canada’s economic playbook, warning that continued inaction risks sidelining Canada in the global food race.
In a letter titled Let’s Grow Canada, addressed to Carney and copied to over 30 Cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament, national agriculture groups welcomed the government’s stated focus on strengthening the economy through productivity improvements, regulatory reform, and expanded market access.
But they cautioned that agriculture has often been left out of national policy and investment decisions.
“Canada’s agricultural R&D spending fell from $0.86 billion in 2013 to $0.68 billion in 2022—ranking us last among the top seven OECD countries,” the letter stated. “Without a clear shift in approach, Canada risks falling permanently behind in a sector critical to domestic and export growth, food security, and economic resilience.”
The letter emphasized that agriculture is the largest manufacturing sector in the country, contributing nearly $150 billion annually to GDP and employing 2.3 million people, more than the automotive, forestry, steel and aluminum, and oil and gas sectors combined.
Despite this, Canada’s global market share in agriculture has declined by 12% since 2000. At the same time, average annual productivity growth in the sector has slowed, dropping from 2.2% in the early 2000s to a projected 1% by 2030.
The letter stated: “We are seeing this play out as Canada’s global market share in agriculture has fallen by 12% since 2000, while competitors like Brazil and Australia have gained ground in fast-growing markets.”
It added that governments in other countries are making significant investments in agri-tech, food processing, and export readiness, while “Canada has been slow to respond, losing opportunities in the process.”
The signatories are urging the federal government to adopt the following actions:
- Establish a dedicated economic growth strategy for agriculture and agri-food—including Indigenous agriculture—with measurable targets for production, innovation, value-added processing, exports, and labour supply.
- Align the mandates of key regulatory agencies with Canada’s goals for food security and agricultural competitiveness, while reducing the regulatory burden to attract more investment and innovation.
- Invest in trade and transportation infrastructure that supports agriculture, including rail, ports, cold storage facilities, and rural infrastructure needed to access national transportation corridors.
- Update risk management tools to reflect current climate and market realities, and ensure they provide sufficient support against ongoing trade and environmental disruptions.
The letter notes that the agriculture and agri-food sector has averaged over $4 billion in annual GDP growth over the past decade, and that with the right support, it could contribute an additional $100 billion in GDP by 2035, reaching a total of $250 billion.
“The countries that feed the world will increasingly shape it—and Canada, with the capacity to feed both itself and others sustainably, has every reason, and every asset, to be among them,” the letter stated.
It concluded with a call for “bold and immediate action” to unlock the sector’s full potential, adding: “We urge you to make agriculture a defining priority of your government’s economic and nation-building agenda. We are ready to work with you to achieve that vision.”
The letter comes at a time when British Columbia’s aquaculture sector, which is anchored by salmon farming, is facing its own reckoning,
Currently, ocean-raised salmon generate over $1.17 billion for the B.C. economy and remains the province’s top agri-food export. That represents nearly half of what the sector produced before the Trudeau government aligned itself with anti-fish farming activists to announce a plan to ban open-net fish farms in B.C. by 2029.
The Trudeau-era Liberals had also dismissed scientific findings from government fisheries experts, which concluded that marine salmon farms in B.C. pose less than a one-percent risk to migrating wild stocks.
As a result, B.C. faces the loss of 4,560 jobs, including over 1,000 held by Indigenous workers, while taxpayers could be on the hook for an estimated $9 billion in compensation to salmon farmers, suppliers, and First Nations.
According to the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA), with supportive legislation and policies from the Carney administration, its members could generate $2.5 billion in economic output, contribute $930 million to GDP, and create 9,000 jobs with $560 million in wages by 2030, all while advancing innovation and responsible practices to safeguard wild salmon stocks.
The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA), which is one of the signatories in the letter to Carney, has called on Ottawa to integrate the seafood farming sector into Agriculture/Agri-Food Canada and recognise it as a major contributor to the nation’s food security.
“Aquaculture is agriculture, and the time has come for the federal government to bring aquaculture growth and development under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,” said Joel Richardson, CAIA’s Board Chair.
(Main image shows Prime Minister Mark Carney)