Glacier FarmMedia – Farm Credit Canada’s president is bullish about the future of Canadian farming.
“Consumers around the world are counting on us to increase sustainable food production and, to do so, we will need to take on new risks, new beginnings and form new partnerships,” said Justine Hendricks at Canada’s Agriculture Day in Ottawa in mid-February.
“Canada is super-well-positioned to do that. The world is looking for more of Canada.”
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Hendricks said Canadian farmers have a “generational opportunity” to increase their role within Canada’s economy and world markets, but must invest in their operations to be able to do so.
She lauded the concept of sustainability, but said it must be attached to farm financial viability and success.
“We can’t continue to keep sustainability and profitability as two separate conversations. Our sustainable production drives the economic opportunity that’s in front of us.”
Hendricks warned that Canadian agricultural productivity has been slipping in recent years, now that the “low-hanging fruit” of earlier technological innovations have been mostly realized.
For the next gains, farmers will need to invest for growth. If they wring all productivity improvements they can from their operations, it could mean an extra $30 billion in net farm profit by 2030, she said.
Reaching for those gains will involve risk-taking and some stumbles, she said, but that’s the price of opportunity.
Those risks will occur in an overall positive environment, however. There is compelling need for greater Canadian farm production and “never before has agriculture and food been at the forefront of addressing global hunger, health, climate change, economic growth – and it can be done all at once.”
– Ed White is a reporter for The Western Producer.
