By Alice McFarlane

Canadian agriculture building resilience

Mar 8, 2023 | 3:45 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) brought together farm and food leaders from across Canada to its annual conference.

This year’s theme, Building a Resilient Future for Canadian Agriculture, was especially meaningful after the challenges of the past few years, according to CFA President Keith Currie.

“Agriculture has experienced many disruptions that have affected the entire food supply chain. COVID, climate change, transportation disruptions and trade wars are all uncontrollable circumstances that farmers often find themselves affected by,” Currie said. “As we enter into this new era, it’s important that Canada pivots to focusing on the resilience of essential industries like agriculture to ensure that we can continue to act as a reliable global food supplier.”

Currie said the value of this meeting is bringing the agriculture sector together to develop policy solutions and build partnerships that moves the industry to success.

CFA membership passed 54 resolutions that covered a range of issues, from conservation, climate change, labour, rural infrastructure, crop protection, to international trade, and risk management.

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Leaders from every major party spoke to the gathering including Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the NDP and Elizabeth May with the Green Party.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated his government’s plans to reduce carbon emissions and to assist agriculture in meeting those long-term goals.

Trudeau reassured CFA delegates that his government is not planning to regulate fertilizer use but it does want to reduce emissions through technological innovations.

“All of you know that being able to target your fertilizer use better is really important because it keeps costs down and it increases or maximizes yields and that is absolutely something we need, we can’t have yields be going down,” Trudeau said. “That’s why whether it’s looking at how we’re bringing down the price of fertilizer or supporting you during this difficult time where the cost of Russian fertilizers have gone up because of their decisions to invade Ukraine, making sure we’re there to support you in various ways. But making sure we’re also there for the kinds of technological innovations that are going to be a key part of making sure the world can feed itself in a net zero economy in 2050.”

CFA announced the winner of the Brigid Rivoire Award for Agricultural Mental Health. The Guardian Network was created through a partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association – Ontario (CMHA-ON) and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

The Guardian Network is a volunteer suicide prevention network which supports Ontario’s farming community. Guardians are equipped with strategies and tools to identify the signs of mental distress, react to farmers at-risk, and connect Farmers to appropriate mental health and crisis resources.

The Guardian Network Program Manager Marnie Wood said it was an honour to receive the award.

“When we launched The Guardian Network to help support farmers at-risk of suicide, we felt a sense of urgency and this support from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture will help us as we continue to grow the network to save farmers’ lives and livelihoods,” Wood said.

This was the last CFA convention for outgoing president Mary Robinson. She served in the role for four years.

With Robinsons’ departure new CFA Executive Officers were acclaimed. Keith Currie is the new CFA President, Todd Lewis was named first Vice-President, and Pierre Lampron is CFA 2nd Vice President.

Currie said the industry’s ability to deal with the problems of tomorrow relies upon how we approach the challenges of today.

“By building a robust and resilient food production system in Canada we can continue to take advantage of our wealth of natural resources in a sustainable manner that can provide food for the world for generations to come,” Currie said.

Recordings of the panels, political speakers as well as accompanying documentation, including passed resolutions, will be posted on the CFA website.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW