Canada's goal of $75 billion in agrifood exports by 2025 could be in jeopardy.   Ottawa—Food processing faces an uncertain future in Canada because of a host of existing challenges and ones that are just becoming apparent, says Al Mussell, Research Lead with Agri-Food Economic Systems. “Increasingly, the full range of issues that we face in relation to food processing will not entail a stable solution in which we fix a problem, and the solution endures over time,” Mussell told the Commons agriculture committee. “The environment is more unstable, and maintaining solutions for food processing will require a broader, ongoing effort.” The first challenge is compilation of solid data on the state of the sector, he said. Statistics Canada stopped collecting data on it in 2013 and now it's clear that “Improved collection of public statistics that deal with the capital stock for food processing in Canada, with the resources to analyze the data and interpret the results, is necessary.” Without the StatsCan data “we are left to public announcements made by firms investing in new plants for information. That doesn't provide a consistent or satisfactory source of information on processing investment, infrastructure and capacity,” he said. The sector suffers from inefficiencies in food supply chains and understanding those causes and costs as well “who is affected can help bring about their resolution and relax barriers to investment in food processing.” Investments in technology research and development would enable Canada to redouble its efforts to facilitate improvements in efficiency at smaller scales and address some of the issues with workforce in food processing, Mussell said. “Ongoing work is required on Canada's approaches to regulation of the food system and the provision of public resources to support regulation that is effective for all.” At the same, the federal government must solidify access to export markets as well as imports to assist the processors. “Canada needs to continue its pressure to restore and expand the rules-based trading system. Equally, Canada should explore approaches to trade in processed foods that addresses broad priorities, notably climate change and the facilitation of processed foods featuring a reduced carbon footprint, with protective border measures based on the carbon footprint of the imports. Indeed, missing this point could lead Canada to falling behind.” Food processing can be an important regional economic tool and the federal government “has a role to play in facilitating recovery through food processing investment, but in a coordinated manner that avoids the pitfalls of provincial rivalry.” Dealing with the challenges is critical to advancing the proposed exports of $75 billion in farm and food exports by 2025 and “more fundamentally, having Canadian agrifood play the role that it can in economic development, enhancing food security, and being a resilient food supplier to the world.” Nationally Canada is a small market in a “very large area to serve and the need for product freshness and distribution can require multiple plants operating throughout the country at a relatively small scale,” he said. As well, Canada is fragmented through provincial regulation in farm products marketing although the industry is supposed to serve national and international markets, which faces the added difficulty caused by the erosion of our global trading institutions and a shift toward bilateralism on behalf of large economies with the economic weight to use trade as leverage, Mussell said. “Agrifood products are frequently drawn in as an instrument of retaliation in trade disputes, and the resulting injury drives the demand for agricultural support.”   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.