Grain Superpower: Food Production and Security for Canada and the World

Sometimes the greatest success happens when people, companies and even countries return to their roots. For Canada, that means placing greater emphasis on land, the vast inheritance and blessing we enjoy as a nation.

Of course, “vast” is the perfect word to describe the limitless horizons that stretch from coast to coast to coast. Canada is, after all, the second largest country on the planet, and the abundance of our agricultural lands is exceptional.

In history and in life there is always the temptation to take for granted the very thing which has brought us so much success. Many nations like to dream of a future in which ancient industries, skills and crafts are left behind, and a wholly new economy is built on leading-edge technologies such as AI, 5G, electric vehicles or digital commerce.

Surely a nation of self-driving Uber vehicles will be more prosperous than a society in which people labor on the land or on assembly lines, the thinking goes. And often, there is some truth in this perspective.

But in Canada, we can never leave the land behind. We have always been, and should always be, an agricultural superpower — a nation ready to feed its own and to share its bounty with the world.

In one of the great ironies of climate change, Canada is likely to harvest more crops even as much of the world endures drought, reduction in arable acreage, degradation of soil quality and famine. Some models predict that Canada’s growing season will lengthen, and warmer temperatures will make planting of newer varieties possible.

An added twist is that Canadian agriculture may contribute, in part, to a climate change solution. This seems counterintuitive to many people, but as Financial Times editor-in-chief Kevin Carmichael noted in a report on the promise of Canadian agriculture, “The effort [to increase yields] might be anchored on the goal of neutralizing carbon pollution. Agriculture is responsible for about 10 percent of global emissions, but Canada’s farmers and processors are greener than many of their peers, since they account for about eight per cent of Canadian emissions.

“If the connection to the environment isn’t obvious, consider what would happen if a trade war between China and the G7 powers led the former to purchase all its grain from Brazil, a country that has had little difficulty razing the Amazon rainforest to make room for more farmland. Global commodity markets stuffed with Canadian cereals are good for the environment.”

“Canada’s agri-food system has a significant comparative advantage, but it is not being leveraged to maximize outcomes,” a report last month by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), an Ottawa-based research group, concluded. “Strategies need to be developed to leverage the assets the agri-food system has today and the advantages it will have in 20-30 years.”

Christopher Barrett, an agricultural economist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., offered a similar assessment of Canada. While he is enthusiastic about Canada’s potential as an agri-food power, he noted Canada “comes up short, in part, because it has been content to grow raw ingredients and ship them elsewhere for processing, which is where most of the value is created. It’s like choosing to be poor.”

Ted Bilyea, a former Maple Leaf Foods Inc. executive and CAPI’s chief strategy officer, recently said in an interview that, “The Canadian government needs to be more strategic. No one wants to look at agriculture like a system.”

Strategic thinking means breaking down silos. Carmichael’s suggestions for elevating the agricultural sector include: “Multiple cabinet ministers should be involved, not just the agriculture minister. The various farm lobbies need to get over their jealousies and try harder to work together. The same applies to the processors, grocers, and transportation companies. Universities and colleges must be present, because research and development is the engine of innovation.”

And there is one more obstacle in the way of greater prosperity for Canadian farmers and the nation as a whole, according to Carmichael: “The final piece would be figuring out why Canada has created so few globally significant food companies, because, ultimately, it is the processors that generate most of the value and wield much of the clout.”

In a time of a changing climate, mass migration and population growth, Canada has a glaring opportunity to become a global “food production” power. Leadership and collaboration between Canada’s public and private sectors is necessary and critical for Canada to achieve its place as an agricultural superpower. Time will tell.