Ottawa-Tariffs and other trade disruptions should not distract Canadian agriculture from seizing a generational opportunity that awaits it, says Justine Hendricks, President and CEO of Farm Credit Canada.

Canada can be a global leader in sustainable food production if it can accelerate its operating speed, handling of risk and boost its productivity, she told the Future of Food Conference marking Ag Day. The sector’s strong fundamentals and a rock-solid foundation are not enough to reach its potential and seize the generational opportunity before it. It must face Trump tariff threats with boldness.

“It will take all of us, working together, to get the job done.” Canadian agriculture “must be ready to meet the needs of a hungry planet, ready to face the future and whatever challenges it may present.

“Not only would we be helping to secure our future, human health and hunger and the climate challenge but we would be laying the foundation for additional global economic growth in the trillions of dollars.”

Hendericks said in the past year she has talked with Bay St. investors, academics, industry insiders and outsiders who all expressed a wish to help. During the same time, there has been some good economic news with supply chains stabilizing, interest rates dropping and inflation retreating. “The ag and food sector continues to be a bulwark of Canada’s GDP with growth that routinely outperforms the rest of our economy and generates exports that regularly exceed industry targets.”

Tariffs would present a massive challenge and FCC has been in regular communications with industry associations, various levels of government, our customers and financial partners to be ready to deal with whatever arises, she said. In the meantime, the focus is on the critical things that can be controlled.

“I have seen the incredible resilience of our farmers and producers, the imagination of our entrepreneurs, the creativity of our technology and our innovators.” However Canada is too siloed with the result it too often misses opportunities because it is too slow at adopting new processes and technologies. It also needs to increase the amount of investment available to the Canadian food and agriculture sector.

“In 2021, RBC reported that U.S. ag tech companies benefited from almost $7 billion in venture capital financing. At the same time, ag-technology companies in Canada attracted just $270 million. Adjusting for population and other factors, the Canadian figure should be at least three times that number. We’re not making a more profitable widget. We’re addressing a basic human need.”

It has been estimated that to meet global food demand by 2050, the planet’s food production will have to climb annually at a rate of 1.9 percent. In Canada, the current rate of annual productivity growth is less than one percent., she said. “FCC’s own analysis tells us that addressing our productivity gap would generate a $30 Billion revenue opportunity for Canada during the next decade.”

FCC has made some progress during the last year. “Working with our newly created Direct Equity Team we’ve conducted due diligence on over 50 deals and -so far ­invested $148 million since April of last year. Our goal is to ramp up to $1 billion in new equity support by 2030.”

FCC has also taken a more aggressive approach to accepting risk and introduced more flexibility for its financing and provided another $150 million dollars to 65 companies. It has invested in its digital platforms to make loan applications easier and faster. To help producers become more agile and improve their decision making, FCC’s Ag Expert technology now helps more than 25,000 users and is promoting the more-efficient management of almost 5.8 million acres of farmland.

This news item prepared for National Newswatch.