Canada and the opportunity to lead

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU. CHISU, CD, PMSC, FEC, CET, P. Eng. Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East The latest evolutions on the world stage are giving Canada a unique opportunity to become a world leader in food production. The Covid 19 pandemic and the recent turmoil in Europe; the war in Ukraine, have severely impacted food exports from the region, both directly and indirectly. As a result, nearly two billion people are suffering, many in the poorest countries. The inflation that has followed, attributed to the war and to supply chain disruptions, hasn't helped either. Agriculture, especially the grain exports from the region, (a major supplier for the world), has been most severely impacted. And yet, this crisis presents an opportunity for Canada to take its place as a global food superpower. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reports that a record 349 million people across 79 countries now face acute food insecurity - up from 287 million in 2021. "This constitutes a staggering rise of 200 million people compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels," according to the WFP. "More than 900,000 people worldwide are fighting to survive in famine-like conditions; ten times more than five years ago, an alarmingly rapid increase." Canada's core agricultural strengths - abundant and fertile soil, the legacy of animal and plant husbandry, and superior farm methods to achieve higher yields and better nutrition outcomes - have helped make Canada a leading food exporter. Indeed, Canada's province-by-province presence in all aspects of the food value chain - from farm crops and animals to leading commodities such as wheat, soybeans, corn, canola, fruits, vegetables, and seafood - has positioned the sector to reach higher aspirational output. In fact, the many disruptions and threats to the world's agriculture and food production sector now present Canada with an unprecedented opportunity. It provides a chance to be forward-looking, to look beyond Canada's traditional products of wheat, potatoes, corn, meat and seafood. To meet the growing demand for the protein ingredients of plant-based diets, including beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils, plus new varieties of vegetables, food commodities, and beverages, including wine, health drinks, and high value-added liqueurs. By any measure, the agriculture and food production system has become a knowledge industry, both domestically and globally. Massive advances have been made in related fields such as veterinary medicine, natural sciences like biology and chemistry, and many related disciplines like economics and the applied areas of agricultural economics, production planning, and data analytics. Today's digital society offers agriculture new tools ranging from drones to smart tractors to smart crop imaging, and most importantly, smarter farmers. In short, technological innovation and food security are the new urgencies of a global food sector in which food abundance and food shortages coexist, even among developed countries such as Britain and the United States. Canada is well positioned to lead in the agricultural field due to its unique capacity to evolve and intelligently transform. In 2021, Canada's agriculture and agri-food system employed 2.1 million people, provided one of every nine jobs and accounted for 6.8 percent of Canada's GDP. However, the present challenge is that politically, the farm sector is seen as a rural issue, not a vital advantage for Canada as a G7 country and a trading partner. Changing Canada's food system as an export sector to superpower status - one of the world's top five, compared to being eighth - is a national challenge. It requires new approaches to breaking down silos and flattening fences; across provincial borders, among sectors, and between the institutions that affect Canadian agriculture. Canada needs to up its agri-food game with high aspirations. Charles McMillan, a Professor of Strategy at the Schulich School of Business, York University and author of several books, suggests in a recent article that Canada needs to make five essential changes to be a world leader in the agricultural field. "Start with a global mindset. Canada should host an annual food fair, similar to the two largest, the AUGA in Cologne and FoodEx in Tokyo, to bring together domestic players and international firms, with leading speakers to underscore the overlap between agriculture, technology, innovation, climate change, food security, public health, the plight of poor nations, and their need for safe and reliable food supplies. Second, like the Netherlands, Canada should be in the business of selling farm and food technology, including new software applications for seed distribution, optimum land use, natural ecosystem diversity, and a host of innovative solutions across the value chain. Third, trade promotion should be the leading target of agricultural departments, and include benchmark targets by country, products, and especially underserved markets where Canadian exports are low or non-existent. Fourth, Canada's scientific and academic institutions should be mandated to break down traditional silos across the relevant disciplines, and institute new measures for deep collaboration on agricultural innovation and food security, including with private firms, farm groups, and the small but growing venture capital sector. The fact that in Atlantic Canada, a federal agency, ACOA (the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency) is a leading player in financing start-ups, usually in coordination with private financial institutions, shows how new collaborative ideas are possible. Fifth, Canada's leading food processors and retailers, which already have a commanding presence in the domestic market as well as some with exports to the United States, can play a major leadership role. Few Canadians appreciate the international presence of Saputo, now the eighth largest dairy firm in the world, Couche-Tard, also from Montreal, the world's second largest convenience store (behind Japan's 7-11), and the international presence of McCain's, which has investments in Africa's vast underserved food import market, where the entire continent has only six percent of arable land. Canada can view climate change, food shortages and food security, and disruptive change from the scientific, digital and protein revolution as a threat or a challenge, but also as new distinct advantages for job creation, corporate expansion, and export growth". In conclusion, the opportunity to win is Canada's to lose. The question is whether our present political establishment is up to the task. It is for you to judge.