Question Period Note: AAFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2016-2024

R.1 - Across this great country, each and every day, over 200,000 farm families get up before the sun comes up, and work hard to put fresh, nutritious food on our tables.

We deliver the very best agricultural products, all while caring for our planet. And not only that -- farmers drive our economy with over $90 billion in farmgate sales.

Canada's food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment, and supports our economy. In 2023, the whole agriculture and agri-food system

Across this great country, each and every day, over 200,000 farm families get up before the sun comes up, and work hard to put fresh, nutritious food on our tables.

We deliver the very best agricultural products, all while caring for our planet. And not only that -- farmers drive our economy with over $90 billion in farmgate sales.

Canada's food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment, and supports our economy.

Across this great country, each and every day, over 200,000 farm families get up before the sun comes up, and work hard to put fresh, nutritious food on our tables.

We deliver the very best agricultural products, all while caring for our planet. And not only that -- farmers drive our economy with over $90 billion in farmgate sales.

Canada's food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment, and supports our economy. In 2023, the whole agriculture and agri-food system:

employed 2.3 million people;

provided 1 in 9 jobs in Canada; and

generated $150.0 billion (around 7%) of Canada's gross domestic product.

Budget 2024 Key Investments

Budget 2024 announced key measures to strengthen Canada’s food systems and make progress on the intended vision for the Food Policy for Canada. These Government of Canada investments include:

$1 billion over five years for a National School Food Program that will provide meals to up to 400,000 more kids every year, in addition to those served by existing school food programs.

$62.9 million over three years to renew and expand the Local Food Infrastructure Fund to support community organizations across Canada and invest in local food infrastructure. Part of the expansion will support community organizations to improve infrastructure for school food programs as a complement to the National School Food Program.

$14.9 million over three years to renew and expand the Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund to all regions of Inuit Nunangat to support local and Indigenous food production systems, including innovative northern food businesses, which promote food security in the North.

$25.1 million over two years to expand the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program led by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. This funding will assist Indigenous communities to safely harvest shellfish for food, as well as for social and ceremonial purposes.

$2.8 million over three years to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA) Action Plan Measures. This will bolster the policy and engagement capacity among Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Inuit Treaty Organizations to co-develop legislative and policy options to facilitate the production, sale, and trade of traditional and country food.

$23.2 million in 2024-25 to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada for Nutrition North Canada’s subsidy program to lower the cost of nutritious food and other essential household items.

$101.1 million over three years for the Harvesters Support Grant and Community Food Program Fund to support Indigenous communities in implementing culturally appropriate, local solutions to food insecurity.

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) is a $3.5-billion, 5-year agreement (April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2028), between the federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation, and resiliency of the agriculture, agri‐food and agri‐based products sector. The agreement includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and $2.5 billion in cost-shared programs and activities funded by FPT governments.

Key areas and programs supporting sector growth include:

Growing trade and expanding markets:

The AgriMarketing Program helps industry expand exports and seize new market opportunities

The AgriCompetitiveness Program helps industry share information with producers to build capacity and support the sector

Innovative and sustainable growth of the sector:

The AgriInnovate Program supports commercialization, demonstration, and adoption of innovative technologies and processes

AgriScience Program:

Clusters Component

Projects Component

Accelerates the pace of innovation by providing funding and support for pre-commercial science activities and research that benefit the agriculture and agri-food sector and Canadians

Supporting diversity and a dynamic, evolving sector:

The AgriDiversity Program helps underrepresented groups participate in the sector

The AgriAssurance Program:

National Industry Association Component

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Component

Helps foster public trust in the safety of Canadian agri-food products and how they are produced

Canadian Agricultural Partnership

We collaborated with provinces and territories to launch the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) to strengthen and grow Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector through a $3 billion, five-year agreement (2018-2023).

CAP included simplified and streamlined programs and services that were easier to access, as well as program improvements to help farmers manage significant risks that threatened the viability of their farms and exceeded their capacity to manage.

CAP provided $2 billion in FPT cost-shared strategic initiatives as well as $1 billion for federal activities and programs.

Federal activities and programs included:

$297 million to grow trade and expand markets, through AgriMarketing and AgriCompetitiveness

$690 million to advance innovative and sustainable growth in the sector through AgriInnovate and AgriScience

$166.5 million to support diversity and a dynamic, evolving sector, through the AgriDiversity and AgriAssurance programs.

Risk Management

The increase in extreme weather events associated with climate change is having a significant impact on agricultural production. Canadian farmers are on the front lines of extreme weather and events such as hurricanes, flooding, droughts, and wildfires affect their bottom lines directly.

To help farmers manage these significant financial risks, we unlocked new benefits from our Business Risk Management programs, allowing producers to access larger up-front payments from AgriStability, defer taxes on livestock sales, and cope with high input costs through an increased interest-free portion of the Advance Payments Program.

To mitigate the real risk of animal disease faced by livestock producers, we provided funding through the African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program to support Canadian pork producers in preparing for the possibility of African swine fever entering the country and continued to engage with key partners to strengthen emergency management preparedness in agriculture.

Support for the Environment

The Government of Canada is committed to continuing to support farmers and producers to reduce emissions, adapt to a changing climate, implement climate-smart farming practices, and grow the economy. 

We have taken bold action, including investing more than $1.5 billion towards initiatives that will help farmers and processors reduce their environmental footprint, adopt clean technologies, and collaborate with researchers in 'living labs', a model pioneered in Canada to promote sustainable practices. These include:

The $429.4-million Agricultural Clean Technology Program, with two streams:

The Adoption Stream funds the purchase and installation of commercially available clean technologies and processes.

The Research and Innovation Stream funds pre-market innovation, including research, development, demonstration and commercialization activities.

The $185-million Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs Program provides support to co-develop, test and enable adoption of technologies and practices that sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Building on the success of the previous Living Laboratories Initiative introduced in 2018, we launched five new Living Labs in 2022, bringing the total to 14 across Canada, and bringing researchers, farmers and partners together to develop sustainable practices that align with effective farming practices.

The $704.1-million Agricultural Climate Solutions – On-Farm Climate Action Fund supports farmers in adopting beneficial management practices that store carbon and reduce greenhouse gases, specifically in the areas of nitrogen management, cover cropping and rotational grazing practices.

In 2023–24, we continued to support all Canadian farmers in building their resilience to climate change, while helping them recover from the impacts of extreme weather. $219 million was allocated through the AgriRecovery Framework to support farmers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia recover from extreme drought and wildfires that took a heavy toll on their livestock and crops.

We responded to producers who are facing continued uncertainty around farm operating costs and raised the interest-free limit of the Advance Payments Program to $250,000 for the 2024 program year.

The $12-million Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge launched in 2023 to invest in innovative, scalable, and economically viable practices, processes, and technologies that reduce enteric methane emissions from the cattle sector, specifically cow-calf operations, feedlots, and dairy.

In collaboration with a wide range of partners, we are developing a Sustainable Agriculture Strategy to provide an integrated and coordinated approach to improving the agriculture sector's environmental performance and supporting its long-term vitality.

Announced in 2024, Canada became a founding member of the Efficient Fertilizer Consortium, an international public-private partnership that funds research to advance novel fertilizer products and practices, helping farmers produce healthy crops while reducing impacts to the environment.

Trade

Since 2015, Canada’s agri-food and seafood exports have almost doubled to nearly $100 billion despite historic challenges faced by farmers, including extreme weather, high input prices, livestock disease, and more.

Thanks to the key trade agreements we have delivered over the past nine years with North America, Europe, and the Trans-Pacific, Canada is currently the only G7 country with comprehensive free trade access to the entire G7 and European Union. Our 15 free trade agreements cover 51 countries, almost two-thirds of the world's GDP and some 1.5 billion consumers worldwide.

On the international stage, we continue to work to support our farmers and food processors to increase and diversify their sales while meeting the world’s growing demand for sustainable food. We refreshed our Canada Brand program and opened the first-ever Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office to strengthen ties in this fast-growing region.

We continued working closely with Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to remove non-tariff barriers to trade, resulting in successes such as the full restoration of our beef trade in Japan and Guatemala, and enhanced access in Taiwan.

Support to Supply-Managed Sectors

The Government of Canada has delivered on its commitment to fully and fairly compensate producers and processors who have lost market share under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Compensation programs began in 2017. The total compensation will exceed $4.8 billion and includes:

For dairy farmers:

$2.95 billion through the Dairy Direct Payment Program

$250 million through the Dairy Farm Investment Program

For poultry and egg producers:

$759 million through the Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program

$44 million through the Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken

For processors of supply-managed commodities:

up to $333 million through the Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund

$397.5 million through the Supply Management Processing Investment Fund

$100 million through the Dairy Processing Investment Fund

Support for Canada’s wine sector

In March 2024, the Government of Canada announced an extension to the Wine Sector Support Program. With an investment of up to $177 million over 3 years, the program will continue to help the Canadian wine sector strengthen its market position and adapt to challenges.

Originally launched in July 2022, the Wine Sector Support Program provides financial support to help licensed Canadian wineries adapt to ongoing and emerging challenges. This new funding will provide additional support to the wine sector, including investments that will leverage the sector’s existing strengths and position it for long-term success. The additional funding brings the Government of Canada's total investment through the program to over $343 million.

Food Policy for Canada:

The first-ever Food Policy for Canada launched in 2019, with a vision that all people in Canada can access a sufficient amount of safe, nutritious, and culturally diverse food. Initiatives include:

The Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council, which brings together diverse perspectives to support the implementation of the policy.

The first phase of the Local Food Infrastructure Fund, which was a five-year, $70-million initiative to support community-based, not-for-profit organizations with a mission to reduce food insecurity by establishing and strengthening their local food system. This phase supported over 1,100 projects to improve food security across Canada, such as: community gardens and kitchens; refrigerated trucks and storage units for donated food; greenhouses in remote and Northern communities; and more.

As part of a $62.9-million announcement in Budget 2024, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will deliver the next phase of the Local Food Infrastructure Fund ($42.7M) and the new School Food Infrastructure Fund ($20.2M) aimed at supporting community-based not-for-profit organizations working to improve local food security for Canadians of all ages.

The $20-million Food Waste Reduction Challenge to accelerate and advance diverse and high-impact solutions to food waste in Canada. Two winners from the Challenge’s Business Models Streams and two winners from the Novel Technologies Streams were selected and announced in 2024.

The $25-million Taste the Commitment digital marketing campaign, which highlights the sector’s efforts to be more resilient, adaptable, and sustainable.

The three-year, $8-million AgriCommunication Program focused on supporting activities which promoted appreciation and pride in the contributions of farmers and the food industry and enhanced public trust. These activities helped strengthen public trust around the origin of our food and how it is produced. Research conducted in 2023 to explore consumer attitudes indicated that a majority of Canadians agree that it is important that Canada’s agriculture is growing and successful, Canada’s farmers and ranchers are a source of pride, and that they are proud of the food and beverages produced in Canada.

$24.4 million over 5 years to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to crack down on food fraud in order to protect consumers from deception and shield companies from unfair competition.

Preliminary measures to build a pan-Canadian school food policy together with provincial/territorial governments, Indigenous partners, and stakeholders.

Grocery Code of Conduct

After years of work and unprecedented collaboration, stakeholders across the supply chain, including Canada’s five largest grocery retailers, many regional and small grocers, and key suppliers, have committed to joining the Grocery Code.

The Grocery Code will bring more fairness, transparency and stability to our grocery sector. Our Government will continue to support industry progress to ensure Canada has a resilient supply chain that benefits everyone.

Support to the Agricultural Sector through COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted Canada and its economy, posing challenges for farmers and food businesses and disrupting global supply chains. The Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector demonstrated its resilience and adapted to meet these challenges. FPT governments worked to support essential businesses throughout the pandemic.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada delivered emergency programs and adjusted existing programs to help the agriculture and agri-food sector maintain cash flow and workforces, keep facilities and workers safe, manage processing and production slowdowns, and support food security organizations.

The Emergency Processing Fund was delivered to help companies respond to the urgent health and safety needs of workers in food processing facilities impacted by COVID-19. In 2020–21, the Fund supported organizations, co-operatives and Indigenous groups involved in Canadian food production to adapt to health protocols and access personal protective equipment in order to safeguard the health and safety of workers and automate or modernize their facilities or operations to increase Canada’s food supply capacity.

The $35-million Emergency On-Farm Support Fund boosted protections for domestic and temporary foreign workers and address COVID-19 outbreaks on farms.

Up to $125 million in federal support was made available to producers through AgriRecovery to help them with extraordinary costs incurred as a result of the pandemic. This support included $100 million in federal assistance for livestock producers.

The 2020 enrollment deadline for the AgriStability program was extended, and interim payments were increased in most jurisdictions from 50 to 75 percent.

To ensure adequate labour for the Canadian food supply chain and to protect workers, the Department launched the Mandatory Isolation Support for Temporary Foreign Workers Program in 2020. This one-time, $50-million program assisted employers in the farming, fish harvesting, and food production and processing sectors with some of the incremental costs associated with the mandatory 14-day isolation period imposed on temporary foreign workers arriving from abroad.

Additional funding was provided through the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, and the 2021 Federal Budget, increasing the total investment to $142 million and extending the program to August 31, 2021.

The Government also took action to promote food security and support the agricultural sector through:

The $330 million Emergency Food Security Fund, which provided funding to six food organizations who were then able to further support over 5,000 organizations across the country to improve food access for Canadians experiencing food insecurity as a result of the pandemic. Indigenous Services Canada received $30 million from this funding to bolster food security as part of its Indigenous Community Support Fund.

The Surplus Food Rescue Program, a $50-million initiative, which provided funding to nine projects across Canada to redistribute inventories of perishable food such as potatoes, meat, and seafood to local food organizations serving vulnerable Canadians. Of the total investment, 12 percent funded projects in Northern communities, surpassing the program's original target of 10 percent. More than 7 million kilograms of food was redistributed to more than 1300 local food service organizations across Canada, including more than 250 located in the North.

Canadian Agricultural Youth Council

In September 2024, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced the third cohort of the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council (CAYC).

Established in 2020, the CAYC provides a forum for the next generation of leaders in agriculture to share their personal experiences, unique perspectives, and innovative ideas on how to tackle issues affecting youth from across the sector.

Council membership is comprised of a diverse group of young Canadians, and includes the voices of women, Indigenous peoples and other marginalized and underrepresented groups involved in agriculture and agri-food, giving members a platform to have their voices heard, and to inform government policy and decision-making.

The council meets virtually or in person every two to three months to discuss issues that matter to them, their peers, their community and sector, and their country.