With NAFTA negotiations underway, talk of new tariffs, and the relationship between Canada and the U.S. at a critical juncture in its history, the U.S. capital was an appropriate setting for the Western Canadian Wheat Growers' 48th annual convention this week. The current trade and transportation issues, which are tied together in driving the export-based... Read More
Category: Trade
The 2018-19 federal budget tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Tuesday did not contain any major farm programs or funding. "We had to do some deep digging to actually see some positives for farmers. It's really lacking compared to budget 2017 when they had ambitious goals for agriculture — exports worth $75 billion by... Read More
When assessing whether there was progress made on removing restrictions on Canadian pulse crops during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's controversy-filled trip to India last week, it's a matter of defining what the expectations were, says the CEO of Pulse Canada. If the expectation was to simply have pulses on the agenda, it could be described... Read More
It was the trade agreement that almost wasn't, but now that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is headed towards completion, Canadian commodity groups are tallying up the potential impact the deal will have on trade in the coming years. Rick White, CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, recently sat down with Shaun Haney to talk TPP11,... Read More
India's government has agreed to work with Canadian officials to ease pest-related restrictions on pulse imports before the end of this year. "India and Canada will work closely together to finalize an arrangement within 2018 to enable the export of Canadian pulses to India free from pests of quarantine importance, with mutually acceptable technological protocols,"... Read More
As if NAFTA negotiations weren't complicated enough with trying to figure out what the U.S. administration wants, Mexico's looming election is adding another layer of political uncertainty. The political threat to a successful renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement is particularly concerning for trade-dependent industries like agriculture, as highlighted by two of the... Read More
Farmers and ranchers across Canada and the United States identify with a hard day's work, family, and a life away from the hustle and bustle of the city. You would have to drive many dirt roads before you found a farmer in either country identifying with "the elites." In the Right Honourable Stephen Harper's recent... Read More
While much of the focus over the past several months has been on the pulse industry, with India's tariffs on pulse crops, Canada's cereal crop value chain has also had its hands full working on market access challenges. Italy, with its new country-of-origin labeling legislation and campaigns spreading doubt about the quality and safety of... Read More
The federal Liberals remain non-committal on whether they will offer compensation to the supply-managed dairy and poultry sectors for market access that will be conceded if the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is ratified. The CPTPP terms agreed to last month would open up an additional 3.25 percent of Canada's domestic dairy... Read More
Comparing government support for Canadian versus American dairy farmers is not a simple black and white process. While Canada's dairy sector operates under a regulated supply management system, the U.S. government's support for its dairy farmers is less direct. Support, in its various forms, equaled 73 percent of U.S. dairy farmers' market returns in 2015,... Read More