Question Period Note: AAFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2016-2025

N/A

N/A

AAFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2016-2025

• 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 and $100.3 billion in agri-food and seafood exports.

• Canada's food system is resilient and innovative. It sustains our environment and supports our economy. In 2025, the whole agriculture and agri-food industry:
o employed 2.3 million people;
o provided 1 in 9 jobs in Canada; and
o generated $150.0 billion (around 7%) of Canada's gross domestic product.

Budget 2025 Key Investments
• Today, Canadian farmers face significant economic challenges, including a changing climate and a shifting trade environment. But there are also historic opportunities to grow and transform the industry.

• Budget 2025 includes more than $639 million over the next five years for enhanced supports and key investments to build a stronger Canadian agriculture sector. This support includes:

o $109.2 million to increase the compensation rate of the federal-provincial-territorial AgriStability Program for the 2025 program year, from 80 to 90 per cent, and double the per-farm payment cap to $6 million, to protect farmers against losses that are not in their control.
o $75 million over 5 years for the AgriMarketing Program to enhance the diversification and promotion of Canada’s agriculture, agri-food, fish and seafood products into new markets.

o $372 million over 2 years to support the stability and resiliency of domestic producers of biodiesel and renewable diesel.

• In addition, funding amendments are also being proposed for the AgriStability Program to provide $8 million over 5 years (2026-2031) to make pasture-related feed costs eligible.

• The Government is proposing $1 billion in new lending available to farmers facing a volatile trade environment through Farm Credit Canada’s new Trade Disruption Customer Support Program, which was launched in March 2025.

• The Government also proposed amendments to the Farm Credit Act to require regular legislative reviews that will meet the evolving needs of the sector in times of instability.

• Budget 2025 includes $307.9 million over 2 years for the Youth Employment Strategy, which will provide around 20,000 youth with employment, training, mentorship, and counselling every year. This strategy also supports AAFC’s Youth Employment and Skills Program.

Broader Budget 2025 investments supporting agriculture
• $925.6 million over 5 years to support public artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

• $440 million in tax incentives through scientific research and experimental development to help innovative businesses scale up and grow.

• a set of enhanced tax deductions called Productivity Super-Deduction to allow businesses to write off more of their capital investments more quickly.

• $1.7 billion under the International Talent Attraction Strategy to recruit over 1,000 highly qualified international researchers to Canada.

AAFC accomplishments since March 2025
• To help fulfill the Government’s commitment to aggressively expand exports of Canadian agriculture and seafood products, particularly beyond the United States, we participated in trade missions to five countries, including China, Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. There, we met with world leaders and senior government officials to strengthen trade relationships, open new markets for Canadian producers, and support the growth of the agriculture and seafood sectors internationally.

• As well, more than $133 million in federal-provincial-territorial investments have been made under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, supporting:
o Building Sector Capacity, Growth and Competitiveness
o Climate Change and Environment
o Market Development and Trade
o Resiliency and Public Trust
o Science, Research, and Innovation

Next Policy Framework (NPF)

• The Next Policy Framework (NPF) is the upcoming five-year agreement (2028-2033) between federal, provincial and territorial governments that will guide future investments in programming and funding to support Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector.

• It will build on and be the successor to the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, which ends on March 31st, 2028.

• On January 20th, we met with members of the sector at Canada’s Experimental Farm here in Ottawa and announced the launch of national consultations on the next five-year policy framework for agriculture, which will begin in 2028.

• We want to hear from Canadians, including farmers, producers, processors, Indigenous communities, women, youth, and industry associations so that we can learn more about the current and emerging challenges facing the sector.

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

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

Innovative and sustainable growth of the sector:
o The AgriInnovate Program supports commercialization, demonstration, and adoption of innovative technologies and processes

AgriScience Program:
o Clusters Component
o Projects Component
o 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:
o The AgriDiversity Program helps underrepresented groups participate in the sector

The AgriAssurance Program:
o National Industry Association Component
o Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Component
o Helps foster public trust in the safety of Canadian agri-food products and how they are produced

The Resilient Agriculture Landscape Program is a cost-shared program that:
o helps recognize ecological goods and services provided by farmers;
o improves on-farm resilience and biodiversity – and contributes to the reduction of emissions from the sector.

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:

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

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

o $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.

• As part of a proactive disease response approach, in March 2025 the Government of Canada announced a federal commitment of up to $567.17 million to support hog producers following the closure of key export markets at the onset of an African swine fever outbreak.

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. 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 Accelerator is a program under the Research and Innovation Stream that will provide funding to eligible not-for-profit organizations that will, in turn, use their specific networks and expertise to further distribute these funds to other organizations in support of their research and innovation objectives.

• 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.

• 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 more than $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.

• We have also signed the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

• 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, enhanced access in Taiwan, canola to Pakistan and pet food to Mexico.

• We continue to press hard to remove unjustified trade barriers.

• I recently accompanied the Prime Minister to China. Prime Minister Carney and President Xi secured a preliminary agreement-in-principle with landmark measures to remove trade barriers and reduce tariffs:
o By March 1, 2026, Canada expects that China will lower tariffs on Canadian canola seed to a combined rate of approximately 15%.
o China is a $4 billion canola seed market for Canadian producers, and this change represents a significant drop from current combined tariff levels of approximately 85%.
o Canada expects that Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs, and peas will not be subject to relevant anti-discrimination tariffs from March 1, 2026, until at least the end of this year.
• Together, these results will help unlock nearly $3 billion in export orders for Canadian workers and businesses as they realise the full potential of the massive Chinese market of 1.4 billion people.
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, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.

• Compensation programs began in 2017. The total compensation will exceed $4.8 billion and includes:
o For dairy farmers:
 $2.95 billion through the Dairy Direct Payment Program
 $250 million through the Dairy Farm Investment Program

o 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

o 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

• We recognize the wine sector’s important economic contributions, including providing business opportunities and jobs for grape growers and wine makers across Canada.

• To ensure continued support for the sector, in March 2024, the Government of Canada announced an extension to the Wine Sector Support Program, investing up to an additional $177 million over 3 years, ending March 31, 2027.

• This $343 million, five-year program helps federally licenced Canadian wineries adapt to ongoing and emerging challenges impacting their financial resilience and competitiveness by providing grants based on their previous year’s wine production.

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 office supporting the Grocery Code is now operational with full Code implementation and enforcement as of January 1, 2026.

• 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.

Producer Mental Wellbeing Initiative

• The $3-million Producer Mental Wellbeing Initiative (PMWI), delivered by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in partnership with the Privy Council Office's Impact Canada, is a 3-year initiative aimed to bring forward collaborative solutions that use creative, data-based approaches to help improve the wellbeing of producers; reduce the stigma around mental health in agriculture; raise awareness; and offer the support producers need, when they need it. Semi Finalists have been chosen.

Canadian Agricultural Youth Council

• It’s been five years since the first cohort of the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council (CAYC) met for the first time. Now in the midst of the third cohort, over 40 young Canadians have provided the youth perspective on issues ranging from attracting young people to Canadian agriculture, to food security, to environment and climate change, and agricultural data.

• They have represented Canada’s youth domestically and internationally, navigating through a changing landscape for Canadian agriculture, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, and trade disruptions.

• 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.

N/A