How to grow Canada’s vast agriculture potential: Senator Robinson
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Canadians are more focused on nation building than they have been in decades. During these times, it is important to recognize our strengths.
As luck would have it, Canadians live in one of the most resource-rich countries in the world. With mineral, energy, forestry and agriculture assets, we enjoy the ultimate strength of being able to diversify our global markets, increase our innovative capacities and, above all, realize our strategic opportunities for growth in areas like infrastructure, productivity, capital investment and technology deployment.
The country’s untapped agriculture and agri-food growth potential was most notably raised in the Advisory Council on Economic Growth’s 2017 report, Unleashing the Growth Potential of Key Sectors. Describing the country as a “trusted global leader in safe, nutritious, and sustainable food in the 21st century,” the report set an ambitious target of increasing agri-food exports to $75 billion by 2027, with an $11-billion increase in agriculture exports and a $19-billion increase in value-added processed food exports by 2025. Canada could achieve this, the report noted, by allowing the private sector to lead strategy development, investing in trade infrastructure, addressing labour shortages, promoting international trade and supporting the emerging agri-tech sector through incentives.
At the time of the report’s release, Canada ranked fifth in global agriculture exports and 11th in agri-food exports, with the sector accounting for 6.7% of Canada’s GDP (approximately $112 billion) and employing 2.1 million Canadians. As of 2023, the sector employed 2.3 million people, provided one in nine jobs in the country, and generated 7% of GDP (around $150 billion).
While this growth may appear promising, Canada still dropped to seventh place in global agriculture and agri-food exports in that time. If corrective measures aren’t taken, the country’s ranking is on course to drop further — to ninth place — by 2035, according to RBC’s February 2025 report, Food first: How agriculture can lead a new era for Canadian exports.
The report goes on to note, importantly, that while the country’s exports have quadrupled in value since 2000, Canada’s market share has declined by almost 12%. This means our global competitiveness is slipping, and while the sector is growing, Canada is failing to utilize agriculture and agri-food to its maximum capacity. We are moving backwards.
Notably, both reports forecast impressive returns-on-investments for the sector in technology and capital investment. For example, by increasing investment in food processing technologies — not just their discovery, but, crucially, their development and delivery — Canada would reap lasting positive impacts on productivity.
Similarly, the high-growth strategy outlined in the RBC report — with emphasis on the scaling up and accelerated adoption of food processing technologies, closing the digital accessibility gap, modernizing export infrastructure and regulatory alignment with the Global South — suggests Canada can unlock as much as $44 billion in agriculture and agri-food export value by 2035, returning the country back to its fifth-place ranking.
Complementary to these findings, Farm Credit Canada estimates that if the sector could return primary agriculture’s productivity growth back to where it was two decades ago, it could add as much as $30 billion in net cash income over 10 years.
Here lies our advantage. For generations, we have been a leader in agriculture exports, and we possess internationally coveted agriculture resources that are the envy of our trading partners. Through 15 free trade agreements covering 51 countries and 1.5 billion consumers globally, Canada significantly contributes to feeding the world. To maximize our capacity on this front, we must address our innovation shortcomings.
Under the 2024 Global Innovation Index, Canada ranked eighth in innovation inputs, yet 20th in innovation outputs. This “innovation paradox” highlights that while the country invests significantly in innovation, it lags in translating those inputs into tangible, high-quality outputs.
This is our opportunity. Canada can be an agriculture and agri-food powerhouse if it boosts productivity, captures more domestic value-add opportunities, invests in infrastructure capacity, addresses chronic labour disruptions and facilitates growth in emerging key sectors like agri-tech.
It is a tall order, but to weather this storm and turn adversity into prosperity, we must market ourselves as a reliable trading partner committed to producing the world’s food for tomorrow.
Senator Mary Robinson represents Prince Edward Island. Coming from a sixth-generation family farm operation, she has been a strong voice for industry at the provincial, national and global levels.
A version of this article was published in The Hill Times on April 23, 2025.
Canadians are more focused on nation building than they have been in decades. During these times, it is important to recognize our strengths.
As luck would have it, Canadians live in one of the most resource-rich countries in the world. With mineral, energy, forestry and agriculture assets, we enjoy the ultimate strength of being able to diversify our global markets, increase our innovative capacities and, above all, realize our strategic opportunities for growth in areas like infrastructure, productivity, capital investment and technology deployment.
The country’s untapped agriculture and agri-food growth potential was most notably raised in the Advisory Council on Economic Growth’s 2017 report, Unleashing the Growth Potential of Key Sectors. Describing the country as a “trusted global leader in safe, nutritious, and sustainable food in the 21st century,” the report set an ambitious target of increasing agri-food exports to $75 billion by 2027, with an $11-billion increase in agriculture exports and a $19-billion increase in value-added processed food exports by 2025. Canada could achieve this, the report noted, by allowing the private sector to lead strategy development, investing in trade infrastructure, addressing labour shortages, promoting international trade and supporting the emerging agri-tech sector through incentives.
At the time of the report’s release, Canada ranked fifth in global agriculture exports and 11th in agri-food exports, with the sector accounting for 6.7% of Canada’s GDP (approximately $112 billion) and employing 2.1 million Canadians. As of 2023, the sector employed 2.3 million people, provided one in nine jobs in the country, and generated 7% of GDP (around $150 billion).
While this growth may appear promising, Canada still dropped to seventh place in global agriculture and agri-food exports in that time. If corrective measures aren’t taken, the country’s ranking is on course to drop further — to ninth place — by 2035, according to RBC’s February 2025 report, Food first: How agriculture can lead a new era for Canadian exports.
The report goes on to note, importantly, that while the country’s exports have quadrupled in value since 2000, Canada’s market share has declined by almost 12%. This means our global competitiveness is slipping, and while the sector is growing, Canada is failing to utilize agriculture and agri-food to its maximum capacity. We are moving backwards.
Notably, both reports forecast impressive returns-on-investments for the sector in technology and capital investment. For example, by increasing investment in food processing technologies — not just their discovery, but, crucially, their development and delivery — Canada would reap lasting positive impacts on productivity.
Similarly, the high-growth strategy outlined in the RBC report — with emphasis on the scaling up and accelerated adoption of food processing technologies, closing the digital accessibility gap, modernizing export infrastructure and regulatory alignment with the Global South — suggests Canada can unlock as much as $44 billion in agriculture and agri-food export value by 2035, returning the country back to its fifth-place ranking.
Complementary to these findings, Farm Credit Canada estimates that if the sector could return primary agriculture’s productivity growth back to where it was two decades ago, it could add as much as $30 billion in net cash income over 10 years.
Here lies our advantage. For generations, we have been a leader in agriculture exports, and we possess internationally coveted agriculture resources that are the envy of our trading partners. Through 15 free trade agreements covering 51 countries and 1.5 billion consumers globally, Canada significantly contributes to feeding the world. To maximize our capacity on this front, we must address our innovation shortcomings.
Under the 2024 Global Innovation Index, Canada ranked eighth in innovation inputs, yet 20th in innovation outputs. This “innovation paradox” highlights that while the country invests significantly in innovation, it lags in translating those inputs into tangible, high-quality outputs.
This is our opportunity. Canada can be an agriculture and agri-food powerhouse if it boosts productivity, captures more domestic value-add opportunities, invests in infrastructure capacity, addresses chronic labour disruptions and facilitates growth in emerging key sectors like agri-tech.
It is a tall order, but to weather this storm and turn adversity into prosperity, we must market ourselves as a reliable trading partner committed to producing the world’s food for tomorrow.
Senator Mary Robinson represents Prince Edward Island. Coming from a sixth-generation family farm operation, she has been a strong voice for industry at the provincial, national and global levels.
A version of this article was published in The Hill Times on April 23, 2025.