Ottawa—While Canada has the players to place it among the most trusted and sustainable food producers in the world, it needs a team effort by industry and government to achieve that goal, says the final report of the Canada Food Brand initiative. The report sets out a game plan for food producers and processors and all levels of government to follow based on ideas generated during a year of discussions with about 600 members of the agrifood sector. Those sessions, led by Canada 2020 senior fellow David McInnes, a former president of the Canadian Agriculture Policy Institute, focused on how to make the Canada Brand on food exports a sought-out item among consumers around the world. Boosting the agrifood sector needs to be recognized by governments as a strategic priority with full recognition “Canada is not the only country seeking to differentiate its food system on the basis of reputation,” the report said. At the same time, the must “decide whether this is important enough to take the necessary steps to, indeed, become one of the world's most trusted and sustainable food suppliers. “The marketplace is signalling to all that ensuring confidence in Canada's food supply carries new obligations,” the report said. “In return, governments must be more strategic about a super sector that consistently generates jobs and wealth across the country, is a lynchpin for caring for eco-systems and a partner in reducing food insecurity. “Governments must be more accountable for ensuring policy coherence across jurisdictions and departments and accelerate regulatory processes to attract and retain investment,” it said. A team approach is needed because “Food issues are too complex and the opportunity for success is too great to do otherwise. For many, decoupling economics from social and environmental performance is no longer possible or desirable.” A much-discussed example is improving soil health even more to enable agriculture to unleash productivity gains and become a greater carbon sequestering machine, the report said. While the agrifood sector “is displaying a new collaborative discipline to improve care and sustainability that is pre-competitive and more accountable, more is expected from industry to improve practices on biodiversity and transparency,” the report said. To make the team approach to the Canada Brand matter internationally, association boards and government roundtables should devote 20 per cent of their seats to representatives of Indigenous, civil society, social scientists, health, environment, investment and technology groups, the report said. Meanwhile producers should be included on processor and retailer boards. Another key step is to involve Canadian agrifood leaders in international dialogues about global standards for transforming the food system, the report said. It predicts the next emerging issue for the sector is true cost accounting, which looks at understanding and pricing-in the externalized cost of producing food. The food industry needs to be able to leverage value from backing up claims for safe, sustainable, reliably supplied, nutritious foods across every value chain, the report said. To do that, “Canada requires a new national data strategy to support such proprietary actions, advance pre-collaborative initiatives and satisfy public reporting.” Being able to walk the talk is key to boosting on-farm and company productivity and profitability and creating value-added opportunities, it said. The data should show where there are gaps in existing sustainability and care programs compared to international standards that need to be addressed. Governments must ensure their science-based food regulations are keeping up with international standards and leading to balanced policy decisions, the report said. They also need to show what Canada is doing to cope with climate change risks to its food production system. “As a middle power, a holistic trade strategy can reflect a major advantage; many 21st century global agri-food business risks are Canada's agrifood opportunities. “Canada's food brand can be enhanced by demonstrating how Canada is mitigating such risks and maintaining the right regulatory system. In doing so, government can better position Canada as a safe harbour for agri-food investors,” the report said. “Many people across Canada's agri-food system passionately believe that the country can generate economic opportunities and deliver societal benefits from aspiring to be the planet's most trusted and sustainable food leader. Deciding how to achieve this ambition is the issue.” Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.