Question Period Note: SUPPORTING THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Q1 – How is the Government addressing the significant financial challenges facing Canadian producers? Q2 – What action is the Government taking to support the diversification of exports? Q3 – How is the Government addressing labour challenges in the sector? Q4 – How is the Government supporting producers impacted by extreme weather situations, such as droughts and wildfires? Q5 – What is the Government doing to enhance the environmental performance and resilience of the agriculture sector? Q6 – What is the Government doing to protect and strengthen Canada’s supply chains? Q7 – How is the Government supporting preparation and prevention of disease outbreaks?

R.1 - As farmers are facing uncertainties heading into this crop year, the interest-free limit for cash advances under the Advance Payments Program was temporarily set at $250,000 for the 2025 program year instead of returning to $100,000. This change is expected to provide an additional interest savings of up to $65 million to over 13,000 producers.
To support producers navigating significant pressure and uncertainty, the Government also announced proposed supports for the agricultural sector through AgriStability and extended the program’s deadline in 2025 to July 31st. The additional proposed supports include increasing the compensation rate from 80% to 90% and doubling the current payment cap to $6 million for the 2025 program year. We are working with provincial and territorial counterparts on moving this proposal forward. R.2 - The Government of Canada is taking concrete actions to support growth in the Canadian agricultural sector.

At a time of geopolitical uncertainty, enhancing our global presence and diversifying trade while increasing market access into new and emerging markets, such as the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, is key to mitigating the impacts of the unpredictability in the current global trading context.
The Government is actively negotiating and implementing new bilateral and regional free trade agreements to open up opportunities to grow and diversify the agriculture sector’s export markets.
The Department delivers a suite of market development programs and services, including the Agri-Food Trade Commissioner Service, to enable Canadian companies to showcase their products and facilitate exports to both established and emerging markets. This includes efforts of the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office, which focus on positioning Canada as a trading partner of choice in the fastest-growing economic region in the world.

Industry can leverage the Canada Brand and the AgriMarketing Program to ensure that Canadian products are increasingly recognized in international markets, strengthening Canada’s reputation as a reliable supplier of a diverse range of quality, sustainable, and innovative products. We are working hand-in-hand with provinces and industry stakeholders to solidify Canada’s position for long-term success. R.3 - Both domestic and international workers will continue to be essential to the production of safe and reliable food in this country.
Therefore, the Government is working hard to implement a new foreign labour program for agriculture and fish processing, tailored to the unique needs of these employers and workers, a $48.2 million commitment announced in Budget 2022. Consultations with stakeholders on this commitment launched in spring 2024.
The Government has also implemented a three-year Recognized Employer Pilot, under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, to test streamlined processes, be more responsive to labour market shortages and reduce the administrative burden for repeat employers who demonstrate a history of program compliance.

Finally, the Government is taking action to expand the pathways to permanent residency for experienced temporary foreign workers in the agricultural sector. Available programs to agri-food workers include federal high-skilled programs managed by Express Entry and regional economic immigration programs, such as the Provincial Nominee Program and the Atlantic Immigration Program. In addition, the Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots will help connect businesses and employers in remote communities with the skilled newcomers they need to thrive. R.4 - Federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture are committed to working together expeditiously to share information and complete AgriRecovery assessments, while ensuring that producers have access to a full suite of business risk management programs that are timely and reliable.
Our government supported potato producers in New Brunswick and horticulture producers in Quebec who were significantly affected by excess rainfall during the 2023 growing season by working with the provinces to provide a federal contribution of up to $28.3 million through AgriRecovery.
This funding helped producers recover and ensured they had the tools needed to continue to be resilient in the face of natural disasters and extreme weather events.
Producers also have access to AgriStability, which provides protection for income losses of more than 30%. Under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the AgriStability compensation rate was raised from 70% to 80% to provide additional support in times of need. In addition, the Government has proposed increasing the compensation rate from 80% to 90% and doubling the current payment cap to $6 million for the 2025 program year. R.5 - Since 2021, we have pledged over $1.5 billion to ensure a successful, sustainable agriculture and agri-food sector.
As part of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a $250 million Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program is supporting ecological goods and services provided by the agriculture sector.
The Government has invested $704.1 million into the On-Farm Climate Action Fund, $185 million into the Living Labs program, $429.4 million into the Agricultural Clean Technology-Adoption and Research and Innovation Streams, and the Research and Innovation Accelerator Pilot, to support the development and adoption of clean technologies and beneficial management practices that reduce emissions.
In 2023, we launched the $12 million Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge to accelerate the development of solutions that aim to reduce enteric methane emissions in cattle. R.6 - We have seen how supply chain disruptions can severely impact the sector, and by extension, Canadians.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is actively supporting Transport Canada’s efforts to reduce bottlenecks and increase transparency and fluidity along the supply chain. These efforts include the establishment of the National Supply Chain Office and the development of a National Transportation Supply Chain Strategy. R.7 - Strict measures are in place to prevent livestock diseases, such as African Swine Fever (ASF) and foot and mouth disease from entering Canada. Measures include animal and food import controls and declarations for travellers at the border. In the event of an outbreak, the Government would move quickly to detect, trace, and eradicate disease while ensuring the sector has the support needed.
The Government continues to implement the African Swine Fever Action Plan, focused on disease prevention, biosecurity, and preparedness. In August 2022, the Government committed an investment of up to $45.3 million to enhance preparation and prevention efforts through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Canadian Border Services Agency. This includes AAFC’s African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program, which recently ended after having successfully invested $15.4 million through 44 projects between November 2022 and March 2025.
On March 7, 2025, the Government announced a commitment of up to $567 million to support hog producers should there be a closure of key export markets for Canadian pork products and live pigs due to an ASF outbreak in Canada or the United States.
In addition, Budget 2023 announced $57.5 million over five years and $5.6 million ongoing to establish a foot and mouth disease vaccine bank and to develop response plans.
Finally, the 2024 Fall Economic Statement provided $27.9 million to the CFIA to support a federal approach for early detection, active prevention and rapid response measures to protect human and animal health from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1.

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP):
This $3.5 billion, five-year agreement (2023-2028) injects $500 million in new funds, representing a 25% increase in the cost-shared portion of the partnership. Under the cost-shared envelope, federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments agreed in principle and subsequently implemented the $250 million Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program to support ecological goods and services provided by the agriculture sector.

AgriStability
AgriStability offers affordable, whole farm protection to support producers when challenges are beyond their capacity to manage. It is cost-shared between FPT governments with the federal government contributing 60% and the provincial/territorial government contributing 40% of the costs.
On March 22, 2025, the Government announced proposed supports for the agricultural sector through AgriStability: increasing the compensation rate from 80% to 90% and doubling the current payment cap to $6 million for the 2025 program year. Increasing the compensation rate will provide additional support to all producers who trigger a payment. Temporarily doubling the current AgriStability payment cap, which has not been updated in over 20 years, will ensure that more producers receive support at a level appropriate to their farm size.
To get money to producers faster, provincial and territorial governments have the option to proactively issue interim payments at a higher payment rate and initiate Targeted Advance Payments in the event of tariffs, or for the hog sector in the event of African Swine Fever. In provinces and territories that implement these options, producers enrolled in AgriStability will be eligible to apply for an interim payment of up to 75% of their estimated final payment for the 2025 program year. Additionally, an administrator will be able to establish a Targeted Advance Payment for the 2025 program year, for example, where analysis shows that market disruptions have resulted in a sufficient loss to trigger AgriStability payments for a particular sector or region.
FPT governments have agreed to extend the AgriStability enrolment deadline from April 30, 2025, to July 31, 2025, for the 2025 program year to allow producers more time to make their decisions on whether to participate in the program.
Advance Payments Program
To ensure that Canadian farmers have access to the cash flow needed to continue producing food and supporting national food security, the Government increased the $100,000 interest-free limit on loans temporarily under the Advance Payments Program to $250,000 in 2022, to $350,000 in 2023 and to $250,000 in 2024, representing a total savings of $174.2 million for producers over the three-year period (2022 to 2024).

Year-over-year volatility has created cumulative pressures for farms, most of which are farm families facing inflation of household expenses as well. On March 7, 2025, the interest-free limit for loans under the Advance Payments Program was temporarily set at $250,000 for the 2025 program year. Participating producers could save up to $5,000 in interest costs. This change will represent estimated savings of up to $65 million for over 13,000 producers.

Trade and Market Access
Agricultural trade is critical to the long-term economic growth of the sector. In 2024, trade data showed record levels of agriculture and food exports, reaching nearly $100.3 billion, a 1.1% increase from 2023. Close to half of the value of Canadian agriculture and agri-food production is exported to international markets.

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), which came into effect on January 1, 1995, established key multilateral rules on tariff market access, domestic support (i.e., agriculture subsidies), export competition, export restrictions and transparency. After almost 30 years, these continue to provide significant value for Canada’s agriculture sector, including by helping level the playing field and supporting our producers’ and exporters’ competitiveness. The WTO agreements (including the AoA) built the foundation upon which Canada’s free trade agreements rest. While the AoA is a significant achievement, many outstanding issues remain, and its rules need to be adapted to 21st century realities. This is why Canada is actively engaged in the ongoing WTO agriculture negotiations, including to further reduce global levels of trade-distorting subsidies.

In December 2024, the Government concluded free trade negotiations with Indonesia, a G20 country and Southeast Asia's largest economy, with a population of 279 million and GDP of close to $1.9 trillion in 2023. In February 2025, the Government concluded negotiations with Ecuador, securing preferential treatment for Canada's key agricultural exports, including grains, oilseeds, cereals, meat, pulses, processed foods, and sugar-containing products. The Government is also engaged in active free trade negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as the accession of Costa Rica to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), with a view to help grow and diversify Canada’s trade. Canada has also announced exploratory talks with the Philippines for a bilateral trade agreement.

The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) came into force on September 21, 2017, the CPTPP came into force on December 30, 2018, and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) entered into force on July 1, 2020. These trade agreements offered significant opportunities for the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector but created some challenges due to new market access for supply-managed dairy products. The Government has announced $4.8 billion dollars in compensation to supply-managed sectors for the impacts of CETA, CPTPP and CUSMA.

The Government continues to urge trading partners to adopt measures and regulations that are based on risk and scientific evidence in accordance with trade agreements and international standards to provide a transparent and predictable trade environment for Canada’s exporters. This approach has led to the advancement and resolution of a number of key market access issues. Recent examples include gaining new access for fish, seafood, meat and meat products to Saudi Arabia, pet food and blueberries to Vietnam, enhancing access for potatoes to the Philippines and apples to Taiwan, as well as maintaining wheat access to Indonesia and Peru, and pork access to Malaysia. In addition, the Government is facilitating regular bilateral and multilateral engagement with key international partners to advance Canada's agricultural trade priorities and support market access, such as ministerial missions, senior official meetings, technical missions, audits of Canada's animal, plant, and food safety systems, and working groups.

AAFC and CFIA, in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, adopted a Team Canada approach to prioritizing and resolving agricultural market access issues. This Federal Market Access approach relies not only on a whole-of-government model but also on working closely with provinces and industry to collectively promote Canadian agriculture and agri-food products and respond to various forces driving global trade.
The Government of Canada released the Indo-Pacific Strategy in November 2022, covering five strategic objectives across various sectors. It is a comprehensive plan with an initial investment of approximately $2.3 billion over five years to strengthen relationships and advance Canada’s commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, with ASEAN at its core.

Under the Strategy, the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office contributes to a whole-of-government approach to foster and strengthen economic partnerships in the region and help position Canada as a preferred supplier. By advancing market access, market development and regulatory and technical collaboration activities, the Office supports Canadian exporters in finding new opportunities to diversify their exports, in a region representing significant opportunities for the agriculture and agri-food sector. The Office focuses its efforts on six priority markets for agriculture in the region, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, to diversify Canada’s agri-food trade.
Under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the $129.97 million AgriMarketing Program promotes trade by increasing the visibility of Canadian agricultural products (including fish and seafood) and the capacity of producers to identify and seize market development opportunities.

Labour
The Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) Program aims to assist employers in filling their temporary skills and labour requirements when qualified Canadians and permanent residents are not available. Agricultural employers are the highest volume users of the program. Most TFWs in the sector are hired in low-wage occupations, such as general farm workers, industrial butchers and fish plant workers. There are different streams under the TFW Program which have different requirements and rules. Primary agriculture broadly uses the Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program (SAWP) stream, while food and beverage processing uses the low-wage stream.
In Budget 2022, the Government of Canada launched a three-year Recognized Employer Pilot (REP) under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to help address labour shortages and reduce the administrative burden for repeat employers who demonstrate a history of complying with program requirements. Under REP, eligible employers gain access to Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) validity periods of up to 36 months, and a simplified LMIA application should they need to hire additional workers from the same occupation during the Pilot. Although applications to participate in REP closed on September 16, 2024, recognized employers can still access a simplified LMIA.
Budget 2022 also introduced a commitment to launch a new program for agriculture and fish processing. Consultations on the new program with stakeholders began in Spring 2024 and are ongoing. The Government aims to reform and streamline the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to support employers and better protect workers.

The Agri-Food Pilot, which let experienced non-seasonal workers in specific agri-food positions immigrate permanently to Canada, ended on May 14, 2025, and cannot be extended beyond this date. Facilitating transitions from temporary worker to permanent residency is a dominant feature of Canada’s immigration system and several pathways to permanent residence remain: Category-based selection under Express Entry includes agriculture and agri-food as a priority category; the Provincial Nominee Programs give provinces and territories the ability to create dedicated streams based on their economic needs; the Atlantic Immigration Program is an employer-driven program that aims to attract skilled immigrants to Atlantic Canada to address demographic and economic needs and increase retention in the region; and the Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots which were launched in January 2025 help 18 rural and Francophone minority communities attract and retain newcomers with the right skills to their regions.

Extreme Weather, Including Drought and Wildfires – Business Risk Management Support
Business Risk Management (BRM) programs are joint Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) programs (cost-shared 60:40 F:PT) that help producers manage risks that threaten the viability of their farms and provide protection against different types of income and production losses. Producers take responsibility for managing normal risks, while government support is in place to help manage events that exceed producers’ capacity to manage.

AgriRecovery focuses on assisting with the extraordinary costs required to recover following a disaster, but it is not meant to replace available coverage under other programs such as AgriInsurance, AgriStability, and AgriInvest.

Parts of Quebec and New Brunswick experienced significant excess rainfall during the 2023 growing season. On September 13, 2024, an initiative was announced to provide up to $25 million in total support (federal $15 million and province $10 million) to assist affected New Brunswick potato producers.

On October 31, 2024, an initiative in Quebec was announced, which provides up to $22.22 million in total support (federal $13.33 million and province $8.89 million) to assist affected producers of strawberries, raspberries, market vegetables, and potatoes.

Environment and Climate Change
Since 2021, the Government of Canada has announced over $1.5 billion in funding to advance climate change mitigation in the sector. This includes $185 million over 10 years for the Agricultural Climate Solutions: Living Labs Program; $704.1 million over six years for the Agricultural Climate Solutions: On-Farm Climate Action Fund; $429.4 million over 7 years for the Agricultural Clean Technology-Adoption and Research and Innovation Streams and the Research and Innovation Accelerator Pilot; $12 million over four years for the Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge; and $150 million in federal contributions for a Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Together, these programs aim to create an enabling environment for the accelerated development and adoption of climate smart beneficial management practices and technologies.

Recent years have demonstrated the extraordinary challenges farmers face on the front lines of climate change. Extreme weather events are projected to become more severe and costly for the agricultural sector in the coming decades.

Supply Chains
In response to supply chain challenges, Budget 2022 announced over $600 million to help build more efficient and resilient supply chains, fund projects to ease the movement of goods, use data to make our supply chains more efficient, and reduce the burden of red tape.

Budget 2023 provided $27.2 million to Transport Canada to establish a National Supply Chain Office to respond to disruptions and better coordinate action to increase the capacity, efficiency, and reliability of Canada’s transportation supply chain infrastructure.

The Government of Canada will also collaborate with stakeholders to develop a long-term roadmap for Canada’s transportation infrastructure to better plan and coordinate investments required to support future trade growth. Budget 2023 provided $25 million to Transport Canada to work with Statistics Canada to develop transportation supply chain data that will help reduce congestion, make our supply chains more efficient, and inform future infrastructure planning. Budget 2023 also announced a pilot of the extended interswitching limit in the prairie provinces to strengthen rail competition.

These measures are a down payment on Canada’s upcoming National Transportation Supply Chain Strategy, which will be informed by the recommendations of the National Supply Chain Task Force report and is being led by the National Supply Chain Office.

Successive labour disruptions in the supply chain (i.e., rail workers strike at CN/CPKC in August 2024, and the work stoppage at the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Montréal in Fall 2024) have intensified calls from the agriculture sector to make ports, rail, and other supply chain systems essential services. During these disruptions, the Minister of Labour referred the matters to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board for final and binding arbitration and directed the resumption of all operations. In response, the unions stated their intention to legally challenge the Government’s intervention.

African Swine Fever
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the CFIA have taken concrete actions to prevent the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) from affected countries to Canada, as an outbreak would devastate the pork industry. Federal and provincial governments and industry have collaborated to create the Pan-Canadian ASF Action Plan, which identifies priority activities under four framework pillars: prevention and enhanced biosecurity, preparedness planning, ensuring business continuity, and coordinated risk communications.

AAFC is working with provinces and industry on plans to support the sector should ASF arrive in Canada. In August 2022, the Government announced up to $45.3 million to enhance efforts to prevent ASF from entering Canada and prepare for a potential outbreak. The funding has been critical in reducing the risk of introduction and spread of ASF in Canada. As part of this investment, AAFC’s up to $23.4 million African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program successfully invested $15.4 million in 44 approved projects that have had a significant positive impact on ASF preparedness and mitigation across the country. The Program ended on March 31, 2025, with projects supporting the Canadian pork industry’s efforts to address gaps, and anticipate the tools, partnerships, and activities required to enable an early detection of ASF and implement an effective emergency response. The remainder of the total investment included $19.8 million to support CFIA prevention and preparedness efforts and up to $2.1 million to enhance CBSA border control activities.

In March 2025, the Government of Canada announced a commitment of up to $567 million to support hog producers should there be a closure of key export markets for Canadian pork products and live pigs due to an ASF outbreak in Canada or the United States. The funding will be available to hog producers at the onset of an ASF outbreak and the subsequent twelve months. AAFC continues to work collaboratively with provinces and territories to develop and implement agreements ahead of an ASF outbreak, and to secure the provinces’ 40 percent share to support the sector.

Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine Bank for Canada
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) presents one of the greatest economic threats to Canadian animal agriculture and is viewed as the most important transboundary animal disease in the world. A single case of FMD in Canada would result in a full and immediate border closure to exports from all livestock sectors. Without the vaccine bank, it would take at least 18 months for Canada to regain access to foreign markets and cost the Canadian economy between $19.4 billion and $65.2 billion.

While Canada has access to 312,000 doses of vaccine from the North American Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine Bank, it falls well below the estimated 1.9 million to 2.7 million doses required to control a large outbreak. Funding provided through Budget 2023 will enable CFIA to secure a strategic reserve of 30 million doses of FMD vaccines to protect Canada’s livestock industry against large and uncontrolled FMD outbreaks. By not securing this stockpile, Canada would be at a disadvantage given the now heightened global demand. This vaccine bank will help protect Canada from the emerging threat of this disease, maintain public confidence in the Canadian food supply, and help mitigate prolonged market disruptions to trade should an outbreak occur.

Avian Influenza
Avian influenza (AI) is a contagious viral infection that can affect several species of food producing poultry as well as pets, wild birds, and mammals, including cattle. AI viruses can be classified into two categories based on the severity of the illness caused in poultry: low pathogenicity (LPAI) and high pathogenicity (HPAI) forms.
In Canada, HPAI and LPAI subtypes H5 and H7 are reportable under the Health of Animals Act and the Reportable Diseases Regulations. All suspected cases of AI, in any species, must be reported to the CFIA.
Avian influenza outbreaks are occurring around the world in poultry populations. The CFIA actively monitors AI outbreaks in trading partner countries and puts border lookouts and trade restrictions in place to reduce the risk of importing the virus in live birds, hatching eggs, or avian products and by-products.
When AI is detected in domestic poultry, the CFIA declares primary control zones to help control the disease and any potential spread through movements of domestic poultry, vehicles and other things that may spread the disease.
In March 2024, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported cases of HPAI H5N1 in dairy herds in Texas and Kansas. This was the first known transmission of HPAI H5N1 to cattle. Since this time, cases have been reported in other U.S. states and have been associated with the movement of infected cattle.
HPAI has not been detected in dairy cattle or other cattle in Canada and is a reportable disease under the Health of Animals Act. All suspected cases must be reported to the CFIA.
HPAI is not a food safety concern and the risk of transmission to humans remains low.

• The agricultural sector is critically important to feed the country and the world in a sustainable way. We continue to support farmers, ranchers, food businesses, and food processors across the value chain.

• Federal, provincial, and territorial governments are investing $3.5 billion over the five-year (2023-2028) Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership to strengthen and grow the sector.

• This is in addition to other programs and continued support through our business risk management (BRM) programs, which provide protection against income and production losses, and help producers manage risks that threaten the viability of their farm operations.