7. Canada
Canada significantly reduced support to agriculture since the late 1980s. Producer support as a share of gross farm receipts halved from 1986-88 to 2000-02, largely because Market Price Support (MPS) to the grains industry was discontinued in 1995. This decline halted in recent years, with support stabilising over the last decade, averaging 9.4% of gross farm receipts in 2020-22, below the OECD average.
Despite past reductions, MPS continues to dominate support to producers, specifically targeting the dairy, poultry, and egg sectors. These commodities benefit from a supply-management system with tariffs, production quotas, and administered prices maintaining domestic prices above international prices. Milk received particularly high single commodity transfers in 2020-22, amounting to 32% of its gross-farm-receipts value. Average MPS was lower in 2022 than previous years due to higher border prices for eggs and poultry meat relative to domestic farm prices as a result of avian flu in the United States.
Canada also uses payments based on unconstrained use of variable inputs, notably fuel. Together with MPS, these potentially most-distorting support measures represented 47% of aggregated gross producer transfers in 2020-22, or 4% of gross farm receipts. Risk-management tools constitute the other main types of budgetary payments and played a more prominent role in the past two years due to adverse weather conditions. Other categories of payments represent a minor share of Canadian farm revenues.
Support to general services (General Service Support Estimate, GSSE) amounted to 3% of agricultural production value in 2020-22, slightly below the OECD average and down from 6% in 2000-02. Expenditures on inspection and control systems, and agricultural knowledge and innovation each accounted for about 40% of GSSE in recent years. The Total Support Estimate (TSE) represented 0.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020-22.
The Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership 2023-28 came into effect on 1 April 2023. This five-year policy framework includes CAD 500 million (USD 384 million) of additional funds, representing a 25% increase over the previous framework in the federal-provincial-territorial cost-shared envelope. This new framework has a strong focus on climate change and environment, including a political commitment to contribute to reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in agriculture by 3 to 5 MtCO2eq – for a sector that emitted 55 MtCO2eq in 2020.
The 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) launched in March 2022 announced additional funding of CAD 1 billion (USD 0.8 billion) over six years to support sustainable agriculture and encourage the sector to significantly reduce GHG emissions. Almost half of the additional budget is dedicated to on-farm programmes that help farmers adopt climate-change mitigation practices, including nitrogen management, cover cropping, and rotational grazing, by providing a combination of training, technical support, and financial incentives. Another 30% will be devoted to supporting the development and adoption of clean technologies in the fields of green energy and energy efficiency, precision agriculture, and the bioeconomy.
Financial incentives for investment and direct payments in the dairy, poultry, and egg sectors were strengthened to compensate market losses from new market access granted to trade partners under recent regional trade agreements.
In response to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, in particular the rise of input prices, Canada increased the interest-free limit on loans under its Advance Payment Program for 2022 and 2023, providing interest rate relief to participating producers.
Canada’s climate-change adaptation strategy outlines actions for the agricultural sector, ranging from short-term risk-management measures to medium-term support for adopting on-farm resilient management practices and long-term initiatives focused on research and innovation. Although all three levels of the resilience framework are addressed, measures focused on buffering the effects of climate change (particularly to support recovery from a climate event) play a major role in the policy architecture and budget. More attention and resources could be devoted to longer-term actions that enhance the adaptive capacity of farmers and the transformation of production systems. It will also be essential to monitor the progress of policy implementation.
Canada strengthened efforts to reduce agricultural GHG emissions, including additional funding for mitigation actions and a political commitment to reduce emissions under the new agricultural policy framework. However, agriculture remains largely excluded from the carbon pricing scheme – an effective policy tool for achieving the country's targets. Wider coverage of agricultural emissions by the system could encourage adoption of practices that reduce emissions and increase soil carbon storage.
The Canadian approach to risk management has evolved towards a more proactive policy framework – less reliant on ad-hoc policy responses to adverse events – which is a positive step towards increased agricultural resilience. The set of reviews of the Business Risk Management programmes will provide an opportunity to assess and further improve the risk-management policy toolkit, which accounts for almost half of total budgetary support. Evidence is needed to evaluate the system’s effectiveness and the effects of cash transfers to farmers through low-interest loans, subsidised savings accounts, co-financed insurance premiums, and direct payments. Evidence-based assessment could enable wider adoption of the most cost-effective programmes, stimulate the development of market-based tools where the opportunity-costs of public support are higher, and encourage farmers to improve risk management at farm level. This holistic assessment should also consider the linkages and trade-offs between risk-management programmes and environmental outcomes, to maximise the sector’s long-term resilience and minimise unintended negative effects, including potential forms of maladaptation to climate change (OECD, 2020[1]).
The Canadian agricultural policy framework continues to provide significant general services support to the sector through programmes that target industry-led research and development, adoption of innovation, and inspection and control systems. The new policy framework should reinforce this focus, which accounts for almost a third of total budgetary support (well above the OECD average) to strengthen the sector's long-term competitiveness and sustainability.
Potentially most-distorting transfers remain the main component of transfers to producers. The dairy, poultry, and egg sectors continue to be protected from international competition via market price support measures that distort production and trade and inflate domestic prices. Supply management for these commodities should be reduced by increasing production quotas and gradually declining price support for the dairy, poultry, and egg sectors. This would encourage market responsiveness and stimulate innovation to increase efficiency and diversify towards higher-value products.
Overview of policy trends
Prior to the mid-1980s, Canada heavily supported the agricultural sector through measures such as import tariffs, export and production subsidies, and price and production controls. The dominant features of agricultural policy were supply management measures in the dairy and poultry sectors, collective marketing in grains and oilseeds (notably by the Canadian Wheat Board, or CWB), and income stabilisation programmes (Barichello, 1995[2]). Support varied between eastern and western provinces, partly due to Canada’s decentralised political system, and the independence of provincial governments in policies such as marketing legislation (Anderson, 2009[3]).
In the mid-1980s, Canada began agricultural policy reform, particularly in the grain sector. In 1990, the Western Grains Stabilization Program, which was intended to stabilise net margins for major grains and oilseeds from western Canada, was terminated (Anderson, 2009[3]). This was replaced by the National Tripartite Stabilization Program (NTSP), which established federal-provincial cost-sharing of programmes (Antón, Kimura and Martini, 2011[4]). The Farm Income Protection Act of 1991 changed Canada’s approach to supporting producers by moving from commodity-specific policies towards programmes supporting farm incomes. The Act established two safety-net programmes: (1) the Gross Revenue Insurance Plan (GRIP, 1991-1996/2002) to protect against reductions in revenues and yields; and (2) the Net Income Stabilization Account (NISA, 1991-2009) to subsidise savings accounts for individual producers (Anderson, 2009[3]; Klein and Storey, 1998[5]). Furthermore, compliance with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and free trade agreements of the early 1990s (NAFTA) accelerated the reform process, eliminating most commodity-based policies (e.g. NTSP) except those targeting supply-managed commodities (Antón, Kimura and Martini, 2011[4]). In 1995, transport subsidies to grains (the Western Grain Transport Assistance and the Feed Freight Assistance) were abolished (Anderson, 2009[3]), ending the period of high market price support1 to these commodities (Figure 7.2).
The Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance (AIDA) programme introduced in 1998 was the first to comply with criteria for income insurance and safety-net programmes under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture. AIDA was established to serve as a core income stabilisation policy, reducing the need for ad hoc programmes. The “disaster” component was integrated into subsequent programmes: the Canadian Farm Income Program (CFIP, 2001-03); the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS, 2004-08); and AgriStability (Anderson, 2009[3]; Statistics Canada, 2021[6]; Antón, Kimura and Martini, 2011[4]).
Since 2003, agricultural policy objectives and approaches are set out in longer-term agricultural policy frameworks developed through co-operation by federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments. The first framework covered five areas: (1) business risk management, (2) food safety and quality, (3) environment, (4) science and innovation, and (5) renewal (skills and training) (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2005[7]). Initially, the federal government delivered programmes directly. This evolved with the Growing Forward framework (2008-13) which transferred programme implementation to the provinces and territories, allowing for more flexibility and better adaptability to local needs (OECD, 2015[8]). During this time, the AgriStability and AgriInvest programmes replaced CAIS and NISA, respectively, continuing to provide farmers with income stabilisation products and subsidised saving accounts. The Growing Forward 2 framework (2013-18) strengthened the role of these programmes and incorporated additional initiatives, such as AgriInsurance (previously referred to as the Crop Insurance) and the AgriRecovery disaster programme framework (Anderson, 2009[3]; Statistics Canada, 2021[6]; Antón, Kimura and Martini, 2011[4]). Risk-management programmes have continued to evolve under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (2018-23) and the Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership (2023-2028) (see next section).
Support to agricultural producers in Canada decreased over the last three decades, with government support declining from over 34% of farmers’ revenues in the mid-1980s to around 9% in recent years (Figure 7.4). This resulted from the discontinuation of market price support to grains and oilseeds in the mid-1990s, and the reduction or phase-out of several programmes offering payments based on output (e.g. support to dairy farmers under the Agriculture Stabilization Act) and input use (e.g. Federal Fuel Tax Rebates) between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. Market price support for supply-managed commodities, particularly in the dairy sector, accounted for the largest share of transfers to producers up to 2020. Payments based on current production, including multiple risk-management programmes (e.g. AgriInsurance), were the second largest contributor. Over the past two years, this trend has been reversed. In 2021, the share of payments based on current production was particularly high due to a larger budget devoted to cope with the impacts of adverse weather conditions. In 2022, the share of market price support was lower than usual due to very high reference prices for certain supply-managed commodities, particularly egg prices – and to some extent poultry meat prices – in the United States, as a result of avian flu. Other categories of payments play a relatively minor role in Canadian farm revenues.
Main policy instruments
Canada’s agriculture is a shared jurisdiction between federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments who collaborate and co-ordinate on issues of mutual interest. This includes an agreed agricultural policy framework which reflects national priorities while providing flexibility for provinces and territories to design and deliver programmes that respond to their regional priorities. In addition, the federal government, provinces and territories can develop and fund their own agriculture programmes outside of this framework.
The structure of agricultural policy has remained largely unchanged over the past two decades. It is characterised by the separate treatment of supply-managed commodities (dairy, poultry and eggs), which are protected and oriented towards the domestic market, and other commodities (e.g. field crops, red meat, horticulture) that have less market interventions and are generally export-oriented.
The three protected sectors (dairy, poultry and eggs) benefit from a national supply management system that provides market price support through customs tariffs (import control) and production quotas (production control), tradable within provinces, combined with domestic price-setting according to production costs and consumer price index, among others (pricing mechanism). Supply managed commodities are governed by their own FPT agreements – the national marketing plans – and are administered by more than 80 provincial agricultural marketing boards operating in coordination with the national agencies.
General policies and programmes to support Canada’s agriculture and agro-food sector are mainly provided through multilateral policy frameworks. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) 2018-23 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2018[9]), which is superseded by the Sustainable CAP 2023-28, is a five-year agreement between FPT governments and finances business risk management programmes along with strategic initiatives that are either federal programmes or cost-shared activities by FPT governments.
The business risk management (BRM) programmes support producers in managing risks that threaten the viability of their farm or are beyond their capacity to control and build on the backbone of programmes delivered during the previous frameworks. Their design attempts to balance ex ante and ex post measures and seeks to limit ad hoc forms of assistance. Under the CAP 2018-23, FPT governments jointly provide approximately CAD 1.5 billion (USD 1.15 billion) per year to finance the five following BRM programmes:
AgriStability, an income stabilisation programme to support producers in years of significant whole-farm margin declines.
AgriInvest, a savings tool that matches the contributions of producers who make annual deposits into an AgriInvest account, to help them manage moderate income declines, make investments in farming operations to mitigate risks or improve market income, although there is no restriction on withdrawing funds at any time and for any purpose.
AgriInsurance, a federal-provincial-producer cost-shared insurance programme that makes production insurance more affordable by sharing the cost of premiums with producers and reduces the financial impact of production or asset losses due to natural hazards.
AgriRecovery, a disaster relief framework to help producers with the cost of activities necessary to recover from natural disasters.
AgriRisk, a programme to support the development of new risk-management tools by the private sector.
Additionally, the federal government provides support to the allocation of credits to farmers as well as to the marketing of farm products. For example, the Advance Payments Program (APP) is a financial loan guarantee programme under which the federal government guarantees cash advances of up to CAD 1 million (USD 770 000) to producers based on the anticipated value of their farm products. For each programme year, the government pays the interest on the first CAD 100 000 (USD 77 000) advanced to a producer, with preferential interest rates on amounts over this threshold. The APP seeks to help producers anticipate, mitigate and respond to market volatility by improving their cash flow and their ability to manage risks in commodity markets. Unlike Federal, Provincial and Territorial BRM programmes which are based on the Farm Income Protection Act (FIPA), the APP is fully federally funded outside the CAP budget and has the Agricultural Marketing Programs Act (AMPA) as its legislative base.
The federal-only funded strategic initiatives under CAP 2018-23 provide CAD 1 billion (USD 0.8 billion) for federal programmes that focus on three pillars:
Growing trade and expanding markets through the AgriMarketing programme, which supports industry-led market development activities by helping the sector identify and seize domestic and international opportunities; and the AgriCompetitiveness programme, which helps the sector adapt to changing commercial and regulatory environments, share best practices, and provide mentorship opportunities.
Fostering innovative and sustainable growth in the sector through the AgriScience programme, which supports innovation driven by industry research priorities, including pre-commercialisation activities and investments in cutting-edge research to benefit the agriculture and agro-food sector; and the AgriInnovate programme, which supports projects that accelerate the demonstration, commercialisation or adoption of innovative products, technologies, processes or services that increase the sector’s competitiveness and sustainability.
Supporting diversity and a dynamic, evolving sector through the AgriAssurance programme, which aims to foster public trust by helping industry develop and adopt systems, standards and tools to make verifiable claims about the health, safety and quality of Canadian agricultural products, and the manner they are produced; and the AgriDiversity programme, which aims to increase the capacity of youth, women, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities to better participate in the agricultural sector. It supports skills, leadership, and entrepreneurial development; and facilitates knowledge sharing and best management practices.
The cost-shared strategic initiatives are funded 60% by the federal government and 40% by the provincial/territorial governments, and provide CAD 2 billion (USD 1.5 billion) under current CAP 2018-23 for activities that focus on the following six priority areas:
Science, research and innovation to help farmers, food processors and agri-businesses adopt innovative products and practices in order to improve resiliency and productivity through research, innovation and knowledge transfer.
Markets and trade to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of domestic and international markets and help farmers and food processors improve their competitiveness through skills development and improved export capacity.
Environmental sustainability and climate change to build the sector’s capacity to protect natural resources, mitigate agricultural GHG emissions and adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change by enhancing sustainable growth.
Value-added agriculture and agro-food processing to foster continued growth by supporting targeted actions aiming to increase productivity and competitiveness.
Public trust to build a firm foundation for the sector through improved assurance systems in food safety and plant and animal health, stronger traceability and effective regulation.
Risk management to enable proactive and effective risk mitigation and adaptation and strengthen the resilience of the sector by ensuring comprehensive, responsive and accessible programmes.
These programmes are primarily based on cost-share funding i.e. the reimbursement of expenses, most often on a 50-50 basis between the grant and the applicant. Some also offer technical assistance and extension services.
Most farm-level environmental programmes are designed and administered by provincial and territorial governments. There are two programmes (cost-shared between federal and provincial governments) that are designed to advance environmentally sustainable agriculture: the Environmental Farm Plans (EFP) Programs and the Environmental Stewardship Incentive Programs. The EFP consists of an environmental assessment of farm management practices, and an action plan that details identified risks, and actions or practices to mitigate them. The Environmental Stewardship Incentive Programs provide cost-shared financial assistance to farms with an EFP to adopt specific beneficial management practices, such as nutrient management, manure storage and soil erosion controls (OECD, 2015[8]).
More recently, climate policies have come to complement agricultural policies in fostering the sector’s contribution to achieving the country’s ambitious climate goals. In its 2021 updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement, Canada committed to reducing national net GHG emissions 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and to reaching a national fertiliser emissions reduction target of 30% below 2020 levels by 2030 (Government of Canada, 2021[10]). Canada also signed the Global Methane Pledge and committed to reducing its economy-wide methane emissions by 2030 (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2021[11]). However, agricultural emissions remain largely excluded from Canada’s main emissions reduction tool of pricing carbon pollution.
Building on the Pan-Canadian Framework (PCF) on Clean Growth and Climate Change established in 2016, the government of Canada created in 2020 its A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy plan (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020[12]), which contains agriculture-specific actions including:
The Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) initiative supports farmers and agro-food businesses in developing and adopting clean technologies. Two funding streams focus on achieving a low-carbon economy and promoting sustainable growth. The Research and Innovation Stream (2021 to 2028) supports the development and the spreading out of transformative clean technologies in three areas (green energy and energy efficiency, precision agriculture and bioeconomy). Support is provided in the form of non-repayable contributions up to 50% of the costs of research, development and demonstration projects and in the form of repayable contributions where activities involve commercialisation and scale-up. The Adoption Stream (2021 to 2026) aims to support farmers in the purchase and installation of commercially available clean technologies and processes, primarily those reducing GHG emissions and generating other environmental co-benefits. Green energy and energy efficiency, precision agriculture and bioeconomy solutions are eligible activities funded through non-repayable contributions up to 50% of the costs for for-profit and 75% for non-profit organisations.
The Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) initiative supports the development and implementation of farming practices to tackle climate change (Government of Canada, 2021[13]), a multi-stream programme under the Natural Climate Solution Fund. While the Living Labs Stream, aims to co-develop, test and monitor beneficial management practices on farms that sequester carbon and mitigate GHG emissions, through regional collaboration hubs that bring together farmers, scientists, and other sector partners, the On-Farm Climate Action Fund (2021-2024) helps farmers adopt such practices, including nitrogen management, cover cropping and rotational grazing, providing a combination of training, technical support and financial incentives.
While the main focus of these measures is on green growth and climate mitigation, there are some cross-cutting approaches with climate adaptation and resilience that are developed in the following section.
Climate change adaptation policies in agriculture
The Government of Canada released its first National Adaptation Strategy: Building Resilient Communities and a Strong Economy in November 2022. This strategy presents a shared vision for climate resilience in Canada, resulting from the engagement of ministries, provincial and territorial governments, academia, national indigenous organisations, industry organisations, and other relevant stakeholders since 2021. It focuses on the following five priority areas (Government of Canada, 2022[14]):
improving health and well-being (minimising climate-change risks to health, and better preparing the health system to manage increased demand for health services)
building and maintaining resilient public infrastructure (regarding transportation, healthcare, utilities, communications, and trade)
supporting the economy and workers (generating incentives for adaptation and developing a skilled and resilient workforce)
The strategy stands as a framework for measuring progress at the national level. Agriculture is one of the sectors most at risk from climate change, and actions related to the sector are embedded in the “economy and workers” priority area, with linkages to “disaster resilience”, “health and well-being”, and “nature and biodiversity”.
The Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan (GOCAAP) released in 2022 outlines the federal government’s contributions to implementing the National Adaptation Strategy and provides a framework for organising federal adaptation actions going forward. The federal action plan complements the work and strategies of provinces, territories, and indigenous peoples on adaptation to climate change. In addition to the federal plan, and separate provincial and territorial action plans aim to advance efforts on shared priorities, and Indigenous climate leadership will support self-determined action.
The six actions targeting the agricultural sector contained in the GOCAAP are all existing policy developments. The BRM) programmes, the AgriRecovery framework, the Living Labs initiative, the On-Farm Climate Action fund, the Environment and Climate Change cost-shared strategic initiatives, and the federal science and innovation programmes contribute to the sector’s adaptation to climate change in complementary ways, described below (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2022[15]).
Short-term measures can help farmers buffer the impact from a shock. The BRM programmes provide producers with protection against income and production losses, including losses from severe weather events (e.g. droughts, wildfires, and floods). They include the AgriRecovery Framework, designed to help agricultural producers recover from natural disasters when the assistance required for the agricultural sector to return to production exceeds what is covered by the other BRM programmes.
In the medium term, the Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) initiative supports development and implementation of practices that could tackle climate change, contributing to both mitigation and adaptation. The Living Labs stream is a 10-year, CAD 185 million (USD 138 million) programme establishing a Canada-wide network of farmers, scientists, and other partners to co-develop, test and monitor beneficial management practices on farms. This is complemented by the CAD 670 million (USD 515 million) On-Farm Climate Action fund that supports adoption of beneficial management practices (BMPs) that store carbon, reduce GHG emissions, and enhance climate resilience in three areas: (1) nitrogen management; (2) cover cropping; and (3) rotational grazing practices. While the main objective of these programmes is reducing GHG emissions (climate-change mitigation), secondary benefits relate to adaptation.
Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change is one of the six priorities of the Strategic Initiatives under the 2018-2023 Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Support provided under this partnership helps the sector adapt to anticipated impacts of climate change (e.g. changing growing conditions, extreme weather events, reduced or excess water availability, water quality, soil degradation, and new and increased pests and disease outbreaks). Funds support adoption of beneficial management practices that enhance climate resilience. The budget available for this priority over the five-year agreement represents 24% of total expenditures for the Strategic Initiatives, totaling CAD 438 million (USD 336 million).
On-farm actions are encouraged by the development of Environmental Farm Plans and supported by incentive programmes for the adoption of on-farm BMPs. A total of 10 263 BMP projects have been completed as of 31 March 2021, of which 2 961 (29%) are directly relevant to climate adaptation, including actions such as improved on-farm water supply and retention, more efficient irrigation equipment and management, and adopting soil health practices such as conservation and no-till seeding.
Long-term measures are contained in programmes such as AgriScience, with CAD 338 million (USD 260 million), AgriInnovate, with CAD 128 million (USD 98 million), and Foundational Science, with CAD 224 million (USD 172 million), which contribute to supporting the climate resilience and sustainability of the sector through science, research, and adoption of innovative practices and technologies.
Various initiatives at the provincial level complement the national climate adaptation framework. The British Columbia (BC) Government announced the Climate Preparedness and Adaptation Strategy in June 2022, which provides CAD 11 million (USD 8 million) in 2022-23 and 2023-24 for actions targeting food security and resilient local agriculture, among other things. Under this strategy, the Extreme Weather Preparedness for Agriculture programme helps BC farmers reduce risk from extreme weather by developing climate-change adaptation tools and projects. It also supports on-farm water infrastructure and irrigation equipment through the Agricultural Water Infrastructure Program and invests in weather monitoring and related decision-support tools (Government of British Columbia, 2022[16]).
The New Brunswick Government renewed its Climate Change Action Plan in September 2022. One identified action was to develop and implement a strategy to improve climate-change knowledge in the agricultural sector, increase adaptation capacity and resilience, improve soil health by increasing soil-carbon sequestration, reduce GHG emissions through technological and best-management solutions, improve energy efficiency, and increase renewable energy production. The Plan also targets a 40-80 ktCO2eq reduction of GHG emissions by 2027 (Government of New Brunswick, 2022[17]).
Quebec’s Ministerial Initiative Program of Agri-Environmental Practices Reward (Programme d’Initiative ministérielle de rétribution des pratiques agroenvironmentales) entered into force in February 2022. Supporting accelerated adoption of agro-environmental practices such as crop diversification, off-season protection, reduced use of herbicides, use of seed not treated with insecticides, and developments favourable to biodiversity, this plan is a key measure of the 2020-2030 Sustainable Agriculture Plan that seeks to reduce GHG emissions and adapt to the repercussion of climatic changes (Government of Quebec, 2022[18]).
The Government of Nova Scotia announced the Season Extension Enhancement Program in December 2022, a CAD 5 million (USD 3.8 million) programme to support fruit and vegetable growers who invest in innovative and labour-saving technologies to extend their growing season, adapt to a changing climate, and open new market opportunities (Government of Nova Scotia, 2022[19]).
In Manitoba, the Watershed Ecological Goods and Services activity helped watershed districts work with farmers to implement sustainable environmental practices, including climate-change adaptation. (Government of Manitoba, n.d.[20]). Eligible projects include activities related to water retention and runoff management, wetland restoration and enhancement, soil health improvement, and land rehabilitation, among others.
Domestic policy developments in 2022-23
New agriculture policy framework
The 2022-23 fiscal year is the final year of the 2018-23 Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP). The Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership (Sustainable CAP), the next five-year agricultural policy agreement, took effect on 1 April 2023. The Sustainable CAP includes CAD 500 million (USD 384 million) in additional funds, which correspond to a 25% increase in the cost-shared envelope under the 2018-2023 CAP (Government of Canada, 2023[21]).The new policy framework focusses on five priorities that were already part of the CAP agenda – climate change and environment; market development and trade; building sector capacity, growth and competitiveness; resiliency and public trust; science, research and innovation – with a stronger emphasis on the sustainability performance of the sector, its resiliency and the participation of underrepresented groups.
The Sustainable CAP reflects a more robust results-based strategy with improved data sharing, reporting on results and a commitment to achieve measurable outcomes over the duration of the new framework. Goals of the Sustainable CAP include contributing to the reduction of GHG emissions by 3 to 5 MtCO2eq, reaching CAD 250 billion (USD 192 billion) in sectoral revenues and CAD 95 billion (USD 73 billion) in sectoral export revenues by 2028, and increasing the proportion of funded recipients who are indigenous peoples, women and youth.
Climate change mitigation policies
The 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), tabled on 29 March 2022, outlines the additional efforts the government of Canada is undertaking across all sectors to meet its 2030 GHG emissions target and lays the foundation for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. In the Budget 2022, the government announced an investment of more than CAD 1 billion (USD 770 million) in new funding to support sustainable agriculture and encourage the sector to significantly reduce GHG emissions, although without a specific target for the sector. This new funding is distributed as follows across four initiatives (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2022[22]):
CAD 470 million (USD 361 million) over six years starting in 2022-23 in addition to the CAD 200 million (USD 154 million) from the current Agricultural Climate Solutions – On-Farm Climate Action Fund, in order to complete funding for some of the current successful applicants, expand support for other key climate-change mitigation practices, extend the programme beyond its current end date of 2023/24, and support the adoption of practices that contribute to Canada’s fertiliser emissions target and the Global Methane Pledge.
CAD 330 million (USD 254 million) over six years starting in 2022-23 to triple the size of the Agricultural Clean Technology programme, which had initial funding of CAD 165.7 million (USD 127.3 million).
CAD 150 million (USD 115 million) from the federal budget to contribute, as part of the next policy framework (2023-2028), to the cost-shared CAD 250 million (USD 192 million) Resilient Agricultural Landscape programme that seeks to support ecological goods and services provided by the agricultural sector.
CAD 100 million (USD 77 million) over six years starting in 2022-23 to the federal granting councils to support post-secondary research in the development of technologies and crop varieties that enable net-zero emission agriculture.
The government expects GHG emissions from the agricultural sector to be reduced by 13 MtCO2eq once the ERP programmes are fully implemented and the national fertiliser emission reduction target is met (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2022[22]).
Business risk management programmes
As part of the Sustainable CAP, some changes have been made to BRM programmes. The AgriStability compensation rate was raised from 70% to 80% providing up to CAD 72 million (USD 55 million) per year of additional income support to farmers (Government of Canada, 2022[23]). Eligibility rules for receiving the government AgriInvest contribution will become more restrictive from 2025, when participants with allowable net sales of CAD 1 million (USD 770 000) or more will be required to undergo an agri-environmental risk assessment (e.g. Environmental Farm Plan). This requirement will act as a cross-compliance tool to incentivise the sustainability performance of large-scale farms benefiting from the income stabilisation programme (Newswire, 2022[24]).
The new policy framework provides for reviews of the BRM programmes. A review within the first year of the Sustainable CAP will assess how to proactively integrate beneficial management practices that reduce production risks with AgriInsurance premiums. Based on the review, each province/territory will pilot an AgriInsurance premium project within the framework timeline. A broader review of how best to integrate climate risks into BRM programmes will also be carried out, using the information obtained through the AgriInsurance review (Realagriculture, 2022[25]).
Additional support was granted at provincial level to cope with the effects of the Hurricane Fiona that hit the country on 24 September 2022. In October 2022, the governments of Prince Edward Island (PEI) and of Nova Scotia announced a range of financial support to recover from the impacts of this natural disaster. The Fiona Agriculture Support Program of PEI and the Fiona Agriculture Disaster Assistance Program of Nova Scotia provide direct financial assistance to help producers cover extraordinary costs caused by the storm on equipment, infrastructure, crops, livestock, debris clean up, among others. The On-Farm Electrical Interruption Assistance Program implemented in both provinces assists farmers in the purchase and installation of a backup electrical generator, helping farms overcome food safety, biosecurity, and animal welfare issues that occur during extended electrical power interruptions. In Nova Scotia, the Fiona Greenhouse Replacement Program helps farm owners build or buy new greenhouses and other related infrastructure and the Farm Emergency Response Grant Program provides a one-time grant of CAD 2 500 (USD 1 920) to registered farms in some specific areas of Nova Scotia that were most impacted by financial losses. (Government of Prince Edward Island, 2022[26]) (Government of Nova Scotia, 2022[27]; Government of Nova Scotia, 2022[28]; Government of Nova Scotia, 2022[29]; Government of Nova Scotia, 2022[30]).
Pest and disease management
In August 2022, a new CAD 45.3 million (USD 34.8 million) investment was announced to prevent African Swine Fever (ASF) from entering the country and prepare for a potential outbreak. Approximately half of the budget will go to the African Swine Fever prevention and preparedness program (ASFIPP) to address identified gaps in industry preparedness, developing tools, partnerships and activities to ensure early detection and effective emergency response. The other half will support the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s prevention and preparedness efforts and strengthen the control activities of the Canada Border Services Agency (Government of Canada, 2022[31]). In May 2022, the New Brunswick Government developed the Swine Market Interruption Response Plan to provide guidance and resource information to the New Brunswick pig meat industry and the provincial government in the event of a market interruption. The Plan was created specifically to address ASF and outlines considerations for depopulation and disposal of pigs during the initial six-month period following detection.
In February 2022, the governments of Canada and PEI announced details of the Surplus Potato Management Response plan to support PEI potato farmers affected by trade disruptions arising from discovery of potato wart, including CAD 28 million (USD 22 million) provided by federal budget and CAD 12.2 million (USD 9 million) provided by the Province (Government of Canada, 2022[32]). The plan diverts potatoes to domestic use to minimise the amount of surplus potatoes to be destroyed. Producers will also receive up to CAD 17.6 cents (USD 13.5 cents) per kg for environmentally-sound destruction of surplus potatoes. In May 2022, the PEI Government announced the Soil Building for Seed Producers Project, a CAD 3 million (USD 2.3 million) project to support seed potato producers in adapting to ongoing trade suspensions by planting soil-building crops, considered as a BMP (Government of Prince Edward Island, 2022[33]).
Supporting the wine sector
In November 2022, the government of Canada launched the Wine Sector Support Program, a two-year programme of CAD 166 million (USD 128 million), to provide short-term financial support to Canadian licensed wineries. Through non-repayable grants based on their production of bulk wine fermented in Canada from domestic and/or imported primary agricultural products, the government aims to support their transition and adaptation to current and emerging challenges affecting the financial resilience and competitiveness of the wine industry (Government of Canada, 2022[34]).
Compensatory measures for supply-managed commodities
Launched in March 2022, the Supply Management Processing Investment Fund provides non-refundable contributions to dairy, poultry and egg processors to mitigate the impacts of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The programme aims to compensate the processing sector for market losses due to new market access granted to imports for various goods in the dairy, poultry and egg sectors. The programme will provide CAD 292.5 million (USD 225 million) over six years to help existing processors – who buy domestic raw commodities in the supply-managed sectors – increase their competitiveness through the purchase of new automated equipment and technology. Each organisation who applies to this instrument can receive up to CAD 5 million (USD 3.8 million) subsidies over the life of the programme (Government of Canada, 2022[35]).
Through the 2022 Fall Economic Statement and Budget 2023, the government of Canada announced up to CAD 1.75 billion (USD 1.3 billion) in compensation to supply-managed sectors for the impacts of market access commitments made under of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Starting in 2023-24, these additional funds will be distributed through new and existing programmes over multiple years (Government of Canada, 2022[36]).
Promoting greater diversity in the sector
The government of Canada has developed policies, programmes and initiatives that promote diversity in the agricultural sector by enabling indigenous peoples and other underrepresented and marginalised groups to participate in the sector. It also works with Provincial and Territorial counterparts to improve data collection, monitoring, analysis and reporting on programmes. The AgriDiversity Program (ADP), which aims to reduce barriers to participation and increase economic development opportunities through capacity building activities, will be renewed under the new Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. At provincial level, the new 2022 British Columbia’s Indigenous Food Systems and Agriculture Partnership (IFSAP) programme supports First Nations and Indigenous communities, businesses and organisations in increasing food security and sovereignty over their food systems and funds activities related to agriculture, food processing, food systems planning, training and skills development, technological adoption, productivity and profitability improvements, and climate-change adaptation.
Relevant new regulations for the sector
In April 2022, the government announced the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program Workforce Solutions Road Map, which modifies the former TFW Program to respond to current labour and skill shortages affecting the agricultural and food sectors, among others. Approximately 50 000 to 60 000 foreign agricultural workers come to work in Canada each year, which accounts for more than 60% of all foreign workers entering Canada under the TFW Program. This new Road Map removes limits on the number of low-wage positions that employers in seasonal industries can fill through the TFW Program and increases the maximum duration of employment. Employers in food and beverage processing are now allowed to hire up to 30% of their workforce through the TFW Program for low-wage positions for one year (Government of Canada, 2022[37]).
In May 2022, Health Canada published an updated regulatory guidance to address the latest innovations in plant breeding, with the goal of improving the transparency, clarity and predictability of Canadian novel food regulations. By clearly defining which plant breeding products require a pre-market food safety assessment and by outlining an expedited service standard for products that are very similar to previously assessed products, this new guidance aims to create a predictable regulatory environment for the development of innovative agricultural products (Government of Canada, 2022[38]).
Domestic policy responses to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine
In part to address higher input costs, the government of Canada increased the interest-free limit for advances under the Advance Payment Program from CAD 100 000 to CAD 250 000 (from USD 77 000 to USD 192 000) for the 2022 and 2023 programme years in June 2022. As a result, and taking into account recent interest rate increases, the government expects participating producers to save up to CAD 8 600 (USD 6 600) in interest costs over the next two years on average representing total savings of CAD 84 million (USD 65 million) over two years for some 11 000 producers (Government of Canada, 2022[39]).
Trade policy developments in 2022-23
In March 2022, Canada and India formally relaunched the negotiations of the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and agreed to consider an interim agreement, the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA), as a transitional step towards the CEPA. Both parties committed to strengthen trade and commercial ties through enhanced partnerships and co-operation in identified areas including agricultural and agri-food products. Market access for Canadian and Indian agri-food products is under discussion (Government of Canada, 2022[40]). The Canadian Government expects this agreement to help diversify its trade beyond the United States and the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”) (Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada - Pia Rozario, 2022[41]).
In November 2022, the government of Canada unveiled its Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), which represents a whole-of-government shift in Canada’s international focus. The Indo-Pacific comprises 40 countries and economies, including Australia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, all ASEAN countries and China, among others. The government will invest CAD 2.3 billion (USD 1.8 billion) over five years to intensify regional engagement and deepen diplomatic, security, economic and sustainable development partnerships, including the establishment of an Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office foreseen for 2023 to help Canadian farmers and producers diversify their exports and position Canada as a preferred supplier in those emerging markets (Government of Canada, 2023[42]).
Trade policy responses to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine
In response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, on 2 March 2022, Canada withdrew Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff treatment eligibility for virtually all products originating in Russia and Belarus, resulting in the application of the 35% General Tariff on these imports (Government of Canada, 2022[43]).
To address the exceptional circumstances of the war and its impact on the Ukrainian economy, on 9 June 2022, Canada also implemented a temporary one-year exemption from tariffs and countervailing duties on all imports originating in Ukraine (Government of Canada, 2022[44]). This time-limited exemption is independent of the extended market access for imports from Ukraine under the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), as well as the ongoing modernisation of this agreement.
Canada is a large, wealthy country with a small population relative to its land area and has relatively abundant land and water available to the agricultural sector. Primary agriculture accounts for less than 2% of GDP and employment (Table 7.3) but contributes to a larger share of economic output in some of the country’s regions. Crop production, concentrated in the western prairies – where the typical farm is twice as large as the national average – is highly productive and largely oriented to export. Most milk production is located in eastern Canada, which has relatively smaller farms and a larger variety of crops. Red meat industries are present across Canada, with beef cattle production being especially prominent in western Canada, and hog production concentrated in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.
For most of the past two decades, with the exception in 2009 related to the financial crisis, Canada enjoyed a stable macroeconomic environment characterised by relatively low inflation rates, fluctuating around its 2% target, and positive economic growth. However, the economy has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, which caused a recession in 2020. After a significant recovery in 2021, Canada’s GDP growth declined slightly from 4.5% to 3.2% in 2022, remaining above pre-pandemic growth rates. Besides, the unemployment rate, which had declined from its 2020 peak in 2021, kept falling to reach 5.4%. However, inflation, which was already rising in 2021, doubled to 6.8% in 2022 (Figure 7.5).
Canada’s economy is well integrated in international markets – as measured by the ratio of trade to GDP at 24% in 2021 (Table 7.3). Agro-food products represent 13% of total Canadian exports and 9% of imports. Canada is a large net exporter of agro-food products and access to export markets is highly important for the sector. More than half of Canada’s agro-food exports are destined for the United States. Most of Canada’s agro-food exports are either processed products intended for direct consumption (37%), or primary products for processing (34%). Canadian households’ final consumption absorbs 72% of agriculture and food imports, of which two-thirds are processed goods (Figure 7.6).
At 3%, Canada’s agricultural output growth over the decade 2011-20 was above the global average. It was driven by the rapid growth in Canada’s agricultural productivity, as measured by total factor productivity (TFP), combined with further intensification in the use of intermediate inputs (Figure 7.7). The agricultural output growth over the past decade has been achieved without a clear relationship being established with the level of pressure exerted on natural resources, as shown by various environmental indicators. Average nutrient surplus intensities have been increasing by 28% since 2000 for nitrogen and decreasing by 20% for phosphorous. The pressure on water resources is also very low, ten to twenty times lower than the OECD average (Table 7.4).
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Note
← 1. Market price support to grains and oilseeds, which existed until the mid-1990s, resulted from the assistance provided to grain transportation which lower shipping costs for producers and consequently raised farm-gate grain prices. In 1989-90, the transportation subsidies covered about 70% of total freight costs with producers paying the remaining 30% (Doan, Paddock and Dyer, 2003[45]).