A message from CEO Bill Greuel | A resilient economy driver: Canada's agriculture and food sector

“Despite all our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” – Paul Harvey

This is one of my favourite quotes. It is a sharp reminder of what is a simple reality. We all need food.

Every spring, regardless of everything else happening in the world, farmers from across the Prairies will plant hundreds of thousands of acres of crops – wheat, oats, peas, lentils, fava beans, canola and more. And they will plant these seeds in some of the healthiest soils in the world, thanks to leading-edge farming practices that make Canada’s crop and pasturelands one of the most effective carbon sinks on the planet.

These seeds represent a crucial part of Canada’s agricultural and food sector. A sector that contributes seven per cent to Canada’s GDP and employs 2.3 million Canadians.

They also represent a future opportunity.

From these seeds, our farmers will produce millions of tonnes of grain, most of which will be shipped to our global trading partners to make ingredients and food. Some, like in the case of canola, will be processed domestically, and sold as heart-healthy oil or an input into sustainable aviation or bio-fuel.

It is true that most of these commodities are processed into ingredients, food, livestock or aquaculture feed, and feed billions of people around the world. The challenge is that other countries are processing our grain and capturing the value associated with ingredient processing, food manufacturing and bio-processing.

This is a lost opportunity for Canada.

We can – and need to – do more with this renewable resource here at home by increasing our domestic processing capacity.

The growth of Canada’s ingredient manufacturing sector can offer prosperity, reduced emissions, a strengthened food supply chain and economic resilience, all in the face of a rapidly changing global landscape.

At Protein Industries Canada, we believe that as a country, we need to position ingredient manufacturing, food processing and bio-products as a strategic priority. By doing so we will create a 25-billion-a -year economic opportunity for Canada, supported by 17,000 jobs.

And with the realities of a growing global population, geo-political tensions, and increasing global competition, it is apparent that food is only going to become more important.

Increasing our domestic ingredient manufacturing and food processing sector is an opportunity to create a more prosperous Canada. To capture this opportunity, as a country, and across all levels of government, we need to focus on three areas:

• Enabling capital investment;
• Increasing productivity and GDP through innovation; and
• Market diversification and expansion.

By focusing on these areas, we will be able to advance the building of new processing plants across Canada, bringing hundreds of millions of investments into local economies and creating long-term, mortgage-paying jobs.

As Canada looks to secure our economic footing and increase our productivity, we need to support industries in which Canada has the natural advantages and infrastructure to be a global leader – and that is agriculture and food.

So, while seeding in the Prairies may not seem significant in the grand scheme of things, it is a crucial element of Canada’s economy, and one we need to embrace and champion. And while I don’t know what the future will hold in many aspects of my life, I do know that I will be eating. It is hard to argue with the necessity of food.

Read more, and join us on the journey, at www.theroadto25billion.ca.