Ottawa-Canada can strengthen its food security by closing the gap between agriculture production and finished food products, says Tyler Groeneveld, CEO of Protein Industries.

While Canada has a clear advantage in the food it produces, it exports too much of the raw product which is increasingly becoming a vulnerability and raising concerns about food security, he told the Senate agriculture committee.

“Processing changes the equation. A tonne of Canadian crops sold as a raw commodity has one value. That same tonne, when processed into ingredients - like protein, fibre and starch - can generate up to 10 times the economic value while also creating domestic supply, jobs and resilience.”

Food and beverage manufacturing is already Canada’s largest manufacturing sector, generating more than $160 billion annually, Groeneveld said.

“But we are under-leveraging it. Our current levels of food and beverage processing use only a small portion of our crops, limiting economic benefits and food security opportunities for Canada.”

Global instability, rising protectionism and fragile supply chains are reshaping how countries think about resilience and security. That has made food an economic and strategic issue.

“Canada has a clear advantage in that we grow diverse, carbon positive, northern hemisphere crops. But too often, we export them as raw commodities and allow other countries to capture the value that comes next: processing, manufacturing, jobs and innovation. That model is increasingly a vulnerability.”

The gap between primary agriculture and finished products is the missing middle in Canada’s food security system.

Building on the sector’s potential by strengthening domestic processing capacity would improve food security by shortening supply chains and reducing reliance on imported finished goods.

It would also enable more regionally distributed production, bringing processing closer to Canadian communities, he said. It would also strengthen resilience against trade and tariff disruptions by diversifying how and where food is produced and manufactured.

It would also create economic opportunities by anchoring more value locally. “The opportunity is significant. By scaling value‑added agriculture, Canada could generate up to $42 billion annually in new economic activity and create thousands of jobs. But it is not happening at the pace it could.”

Funding, financing challenges and regulatory approval timeliness delay many mid-scale processing facilities.

There needs to be coordinated efforts to build up the processing sector. The government could make use of existing tools, adjusting program criteria, enabling stacking of supports and improving regulatory timelines, Groeneveld said.

In the medium term, targeted measures, such as dedicated streams for food and ingredient manufacturing and expanded access to risk-tolerant capital, can help close the “missing middle.”

Over the longer term, Canada can treat food and ingredient manufacturing as what it is - a strategic national industry on par with energy and critical minerals, supported by investment tax credits, modernized regulation and coordinated policy.

“This is ultimately about positioning Canada for the future. In a world where supply chains are frequently disrupted, countries that can produce, process and supply goods domestically will be more secure and more competitive.”

“Canada has everything it needs to lead. The question is whether we choose to capture the opportunity. We grow it here. We should make it here.”

This news report prepared for National Newswatch