Since his 2021 appointment, Goodale has pushed the U.K. to drop what Canada claims to be illegal restrictions on imports of Canadian beef. Canada has also struggled with the European Union over implementation of the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) since 2014.

When interviewed Nov. 28, 2023, Goodale was confident Canadian beef would eventually get access to the U.K. market. He still is, even though the U.K. paused negotiations Jan. 24 on a new post-Brexit trade deal with Canada.

In early 2021, Canada and the U.K. negotiated a Trade Continuity Agreement giving the U.K. continued access to the Canadian market. However, the U.K.’s three-year quota to export cheese to Canada expired Dec. 31, 2023.

“This time frame was clearly laid out in writing by both countries and is consistent with the U.K.’s terms of departure from the EU,” Goodale wrote in a Jan. 29 op-ed. “The U.K. bears the prime responsibility for dealing with the consequences.”

When it paused trade talks, the U.K. alluded to access to Canada’s cheese market and “the Rules of Origin.” Trading partners typically spell out such rules to define domestic goods eligible for tariff preferences, as opposed to non-domestic products that have too much foreign content to qualify for breaks, Goodale wrote.

“Canada has successfully negotiated sensible Rules of Origin in our multiple trade agreements with Europe (CETA), North America (CUSMA) and the Pacific region (CPTPP),” he wrote.

Goodale is confident that Canada will get access to the U.K. beef market because it is joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

“They can’t say they’re a member of the CPTPP and they’re going to ban Canadian beef. The rules of the CPTPP say that they cannot ban Canadian beef.”

The U.K. says it won’t import Canadian beef because it may contain hormones and/or been cleaned with products unapproved in the U.K. The hormones and cleaning products are “absolutely scientifically sound,” and are being used as non-tariff trade barriers, Goodale says.

“It may take a while to get the Brits in front of a tribunal that will adjudicate on this but they’ve already lost this issue twice in proceedings before the European regulators. So they’ll lose it again if they insist on resorting to a court proceeding with us. We’re not going to give in on this.”

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Compensation to those sectors for domestic market concessions granted under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) was telegraphed in federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s fall economic statement on Nov. 3, then fleshed out in a separate announcement Monday from Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

For CUSMA — the result of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement during former U.S. president Donald Trump’s administration — Canadian dairy, poultry and egg producers can expect to share over $1.7 billion in funding over the years 2023 to 2029.

The new compensation for CUSMA follows $3.1 billion in payments and programs previously set up in response to concessions granted under the Canada-European Union (CETA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade pacts.

“We made a commitment to fully and fairly compensate the market losses suffered by dairy, poultry and egg producers and processors, and that is what we have done,” Bibeau said in a release Monday.

Bibeau also reiterated the federal government’s previously announced commitment “not to concede any further market shares under supply management during future trade negotiations.”

The CUSMA compensation envelope, as laid out Monday, will include:

• up to $1.2 billion under the Dairy Direct Payment Program for dairy farmers;
• up to $112 million under the Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program for poultry and egg producers;
• up to $105 million to back further investments in dairy, poultry and egg processing under the Supply Management Processing Investment Fund, and
• up to $300 million for the Canadian dairy sector through a new program due to start next year, backing “innovation and investment into large-scale projects to add value to solids-non-fat.”

Solids-non-fat, or serum solids, are byproducts of milk processing that include lactose, caseins, whey proteins and minerals.

The government said Monday it plans to “consult closely with industry stakeholders” in developing parameters for that last program.

Under the dairy direct payment program, CUSMA compensation for a dairy farmer with an average herd of 80 head, based on 2021 production, will be $26,507 (25 per cent) for 2024, $22,089 (21 per cent) for 2025, $22,089 (21 per cent) for 2026, $13,253 (13 per cent) each for 2027 and 2028 and $8,835 (eight per cent) for 2029, the government said Monday.

“The government made a promise to compensate producers for the losses caused by the CUSMA agreement. Today, they can say they fulfilled their promise. We can now look towards the future,” Dairy Farmers of Canada chair Pierre Lampron said in the government’s release.

The feather sector organizations, in a separate statement Nov. 4, also thanked federal officials for fulfilling their promise on the CUSMA file.

“However, there is still more work to be done,” the groups said, as feather sector producers “expect the government to uphold its commitment to no additional access to our sectors in future trade agreements and bilateral arrangements.”

Canada had 9,952 dairy farms as of 2022; the dairy sector generated $7.39 billion in total net farm cash receipts last year, the government said. The combined chicken, turkey, egg and broiler hatching egg sectors, meanwhile, generated over $5.5 billion in farm cash receipts in 2021, and included 4,773 farms as of 2022.

In all, a line item in Freeland’s fall economic statement puts “full and fair compensation for supply-managed sectors” at $1.2 billion in 2022-23, $145 million in each of the following three fiscal years, $45 million in 2026-27 and $42 million in 2027-28.

Other items in the economic statement include a plan to eliminate interest on federal student and apprentice loans; restoration funding for uninsurable damage to farm and other properties damaged in Hurricane Fiona; doubling the GST credit for lower-income households; and a new Canada Dental Benefit. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of small business, export promotion and international trade, made the comments in a joint statement with the European Commission.

European officials met virtually with Ng on March 25 to discuss progress of implementing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Despite promoters of the deal pointing to increased trade between European Union countries and Canada, there are ongoing concerns over its implementation. Since the deal’s provisional passage in 2017, member states of the EU have imposed trade barriers on Canadian products, including pork, beef, canola, sugar and grains.

Non-trade tariff barriers, like labelling requirements, have prevented the uptick in exports expected when the deal was signed. Not all member nations have signed the deal, meaning it continues to be only provisionally applied.

Before the joint committee meeting was held, Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) urged EU and Canadian leaders “to ensure science and agreed-upon rules are the focus when seeking to resolve ongoing issues of importance to the Canada-EU trade relationship.”

Producers have joined groups like CAFTA in criticizing CETA’s implementation: nearly four years into its provisional implementation, non-tariff trade barriers continue to prevent access to some markets.

“Resolving these issues without further delay is especially important for highly regulated sectors like agri-food which are already subject to myriad of bureaucratic processes and ever-changing regulations. For CETA to work, both sides need to demonstrate a willingness to resolve barriers to agri-food trade,” said the organization’s statement.

“Without science at the centre of discussions, existing barriers appear to simply be back-door protectionism which runs completely counter to the spirit in which CETA was concluded. For discussions on the recognition of the sustainability practices of canola farmers, Canada’s meat approval system and the EU import tolerances for crop protection inputs, science needs to be at the core of decision-making.”

Organizations like the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association contend the agri-food trade deficit with the European Union continues to grow. Once expected to reach $1.5 billion in new agri-food exports, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union has fallen short of those targets

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau said last September she would like to see Canada benefit from CETA, but that was “not the case yet.” She said she wanted the deal to be “more balanced.”

The joint communication from Canada and the European Union following the March 25 meeting said the parties called upon “all trading partners to ensure trade measures are transparent, science based, and not more trade restrictive than necessary,” while also emphasizing “the importance for continued work between officials to address outstanding regulatory and other market access issues to allow exporters on both sides to more fully maximize benefits under CETA.”

The official communication from officials made no mention of agriculture or agri-food trade.

The meeting resulted in an agreement on establishing a tribunal to resolve disputes among members. Climate change, gender and small- to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) were focuses of discussion at the meeting.

Another meeting will be held in the fall of 2022.

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At the same time, it is also seeking opinions on entering a possible bilateral deal with the former European Union country.

Canada’s trade with the U.K. is currently governed by the Canada-U.K. Trade Continuity Agreement (TCA), which came into force April 1.

That deal essentially carried over text that was included in Canada’s previous trade agreement with the U.K., the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) involving European Union members.

The need for a transitional agreement arose when the United Kingdom officially left the EU in 2020. Following a one-year transition, the text of CETA stopped applying to the United Kingdom in 2021.

Opposition MPs and industry associations have raised concern over Canada’s signing of the TCA, arguing the process was rushed, done without proper consultation and failed to address the failings of CETA (most of which are related to non-tariff barriers applied to Canada’s agricultural exports).

Preferential tariffs remain in place for grain and cereal exporters under the transitional deal, which is a positive for those commodities; but beef producers continue to be concerned over the existence of non-tariff barriers that could continue to impact their ability to succeed in the U.K. market.

During a federal committee meeting on the subject in 2020, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) executive director Claire Citeau said, “There remains a real fear that a transitional agreement will simply reinforce a situation that remains unacceptable under CETA due to the persistence of trade obstacles that continue to hinder Canadian agri-food export.”

She joined others in urging the federal government to enter into a more “meaningful agreement” capable of removing those trade barriers with the U.K.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association says there are some gains into how Canada’s U.K. quota is administered, but pointed to a growing beef trade deficit.

“We recognize the importance of avoiding trade interruptions and the need for a transitional agreement. However, we are strongly advocating for a swift return to the negotiating table to establish an ambitious free trade agreement that addresses the current trade-limiting factors found within CETA,” said Bob Lowe, CCA president, in a statement on March 24.

Federal officials have confirmed the two nations are committed into negotiating a comprehensive trade agreement by April 2024, within three years of the transitional deal coming into force.

Those negotiations may be complicated by other trade deal implications.

On February 1, the U.K. formally signalled its intent to join the CPTPP, which involves Canada and 10 Asia-Pacific nations.

“Discussions towards a bilateral free trade agreement with the United Kingdom and its possible accession to the CPTPP would thus present an opportunity for Canada to further enhance its relationship with one of its largest trading partners as it continues discussions towards a bilateral free trade agreement with that same partner, the United Kingdom,” according to Global Affairs Canada.

A House of Lords Committee in the U.K. continues to hear testimony about its possible entry into the CPTPP. The National Farmers’ Union of the U.K., which boasts a membership of 55,000, said in its submission agricultural producers there could benefit from having more export markets, but raised several concerns.

Food safety for consumers, especially among the Southeast Asian nations, is a concern. The group also raised concern over entering the trade pact while negotiating bilateral deals.

“We have not yet seen any impact assessment or economic modelling from government which attempts to quantify what the additional benefit to agriculture would be from joining CPTPP over and above the concessions already negotiated bilaterally,” says the submission.

NFU-U.K. is also raising concern over the lack of animal welfare provisions and casts doubt on the ambition of the CPTPP’s already-bold climate goals.

Members are also concerned about the impact of having agricultural superpowers, like Canada, included in a multilateral deal.

“Some of these countries are very competitive, major agriculture-exporting countries, so there is a concern that the cumulative impact could result in increased market access being given away by the U.K. government for our sensitive agricultural products.”

The group remained positive about the prospect of growing exports in produce and beef.

Canada’s two consultations were announced in the March 13 edition of the Canada Gazette, and Global Affairs Canada is accepting responses until April 27.

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In its list of priorities and policies for 2021, CAFTA says the creation of such a position is needed in Global Affairs Canada to monitor and facilitate engagement with the agri-food sector on the implementation of free trade agreements.

The position would “strengthen Canada’s capacity to mobilize resources when commitments in FTAs are not respected and negotiated outcomes for agri-food exporters are not achieved,” according to CAFTA.

Creating the position is included in CAFTA’s list of priorities for 2021, released April 9, but the idea had previously been discussed with federal officials.

Steve Verheul, Canada’s top negotiator, confirmed during a March 12 International Trade committee meeting that he had “extensive discussions” with CAFTA about the position.

“We can certainly look at something like that, but the notion of having a new position created that would deal with these issues would have a lot of overlap with what is already going on, and that person — whoever it might be — wouldn’t necessarily have the same kind of hands-on knowledge as the rest of us who are engaged in all this,” he told MPs.

Verheul said he suggested it would make sense to instead have “something like a regular summit, where we could have conversations between the agriculture sector and most of the people who are actually working on the ground on these issues, in order to make sure we get the details directly to them.”

In listing priorities to unleash agri-food trade potential and power Canada’s economic recovery, CAFTA noted that, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO), nearly 100 governments have introduced more than 200 trade restrictions in recent months that have impacted global trade, including agri-food.

Beyond creating the new position, the group proposes parliamentarians conduct a competitiveness study of Canada’s recent free trade agreements “to identify opportunities to maximize benefits of trade agreements for agri-food and where implementation work remains.”

It also calls for more intense efforts at the WTO level to ensure modernization of rules-based trade is completed, enhanced international relationships and market diversification.

Specifically, CAFTA wants all members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to ratify the pact. Ditto, it says, for those countries yet to formally ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.

Meanwhile, a recent meeting of the WTO on agriculture shows concerns over the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural trade continue.

During March 29-30 meetings, members examined agricultural support policies and the impact they are having on global trade.

Questions were raised over several support programs implemented around the world, including some related to Canada. Member countries continue to question Canadian policies for the milk and dairy sector.

“The focus of current attention is a recent increase in farm gate milk prices and a parliamentary bill prohibiting the federal government from making any commitment in trade agreements that would decrease tariffs or increase tariff-rate quotas applicable to dairy products, poultry or eggs,” read a statement from the WTO.

Canada has registered more than 30 agriculture support programs related to COVID-19 with the WTO.

During the meeting, a presentation from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to members forecasted trends going forward.

“According to the medium-term projections, prices of main agricultural commodities are expected to remain broadly flat to 2029 as increases in demand are expected to be met by efficiency gains in production,” said the report.

The FAO noted the pandemic continues to impact many countries.

“Given the confirmed new wave of the pandemic, which is hitting developing countries particularly hard and is causing renewed lockdowns and restrictions in high-income countries, the timing and magnitude of global economic recovery remains uncertain,” said the FAO in its report.

The next meeting of the Committee on Agriculture is scheduled for June 17-18.

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Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and caucus colleagues on Tuesday announced the specific contents of her previously-pledged $691 million, 10-year compensation funding envelope: a Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program and a Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken.

“These two programs deliver on the promise our government made for full and fair compensation and are designed in direct response to industry demands,” Winnipeg MP Jim Carr, the federal cabinet’s special representative for the Prairies, said in a release.

“These compensation packages were an important part of the historic trade deal we struck with our Pacific trading partners, that has already been hugely beneficial to our export-reliant agricultural industries.”

On-farm investment

Under the Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program, for which the intake of applications is to launch “later this spring,” chicken, turkey, egg and broiler hatching egg producers will share almost $630 million over 10 years.

Eligible producers will be entitled to an amount of on-farm investment based on their quota holdings as of Jan. 1, 2021, the government said in a release.

Projects eligible for cost-shared funding will be “anything that helps a producer modernize, become more competitive and adapt to changing consumer preferences,” for which the program will provide up to 70 per cent of the cost. For young producers — that is, age 35 or younger as of Jan. 1, 2021 — that ratio will run up to 85 per cent.

Producers can apply for funding under the program “whenever they are ready to invest,” the government said, and if applications exceed the program’s allocation for a given year, they may be approved to be reimbursed in a future fiscal year, so as to avoid delaying the start of the project.

The program will also consider eligible costs retroactive to the announcement of support for supply-managed sectors made on March 19, 2019 in that year’s federal budget.

However, the government cautioned that for such “retroactive activities,” the applicant assumes the risk of not being reimbursed if the project doesn’t get approved or the costs are deemed ineligible under the program.

Among the examples of eligible projects are new barn construction or upgrading equipment such as feeding, watering, lighting, ventilation, heating and comfort systems that will “promote energy efficiency and reduce environmental footprint.”

On-farm investment funding will be distributed starting in 2021-22, the government said, with $347.3 million allocated for chicken producers, $59.6 million for turkey producers, $134 million for egg producers and $88.6 million for broiler hatching egg producers over the 10-year period.

Among the examples of the sort of funding a producer could expect, the government said an “average” chicken farmer, who produces 448,202 kg per year, would have access to up to $122,411.

A turkey farmer producing 302,299 kg per year, could qualify for up to $114,195; an egg farmer producing 654,772 dozen eggs per year, $111,203; and a hatching egg producer who produces 3,413,983 eggs per year, $375,297.

Table: Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program’s expected allocation by region (in millions of dollars). Source: AAFC.

Market development

The government said Tuesday it would open the intake for applications to the Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken that day. That program allocates $36.5 million for Turkey Farmers of Canada and $25 million for Chicken Farmers of Canada over 10 years.

The program is to help fund “promotional activities that differentiate Canadian-made products’ reputation for high-quality, safe and sustainably farmed food that adheres to strict animal welfare standards.”

Among examples of eligible activities given were:

• sector-wide advertising and promotion;
• promotional activities that “build public trust” in Canadian turkey and chicken products;
• market research;
• developing and/or expanding target audiences;
• increasing delivery of current market development activities;
• encouraging product development, product testing and research into new innovative processing and packaging technology at the primary and further-processing levels; and
• adapting current branding to meet “changing consumer expectations.”

Under the program, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada would provide 80 per cent funding for eligible projects, cost-shared with industry. AAFC also said it could provide up to 90 per cent funding for “specific projects aimed at promoting inclusiveness and diversity in the market development activities supported by the program.”

To access the funding, the two national industry organizations will submit a “multi-year strategy” to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for approval.

‘Long-term losses’

The four national feather sector organizations hailed Tuesday’s announcements, saying the funding will help Canadian farmers boost their competitiveness against imports from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) member nations.

“The combination of these programs will allow farmers to plan for the future, navigate the unique dynamics of our respective industries, and contribute to Canada’s goals of growing our agricultural sector,” the groups said in a separate release Tuesday.

The on-farm investment program, they said, “will in turn generate economic activity and investments in rural and urban communities across Canada at a time where our small businesses are hurting, and our local economies need it the most.”

The market development program, they added, will allow the chicken and turkey sectors to “enhance consumer engagement and continue to promote Canadian-made products to Canadians.”

“Today’s announcement offers new opportunities for our farmers to reinvest in their operations and plan for the future as they navigate the long-term market losses under the CPTPP agreement,” Egg Farmers of Canada chair Roger Pelissero said Tuesday in the government’s release.

The government said it also “remains committed to engaging the sector on full and fair compensation” for market share ceded separately under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the successor pact to NAFTA.

Further, the government said Tuesday it also “remains committed to addressing the impacts of recent trade agreements on processors,” as farmers and processors “depend on each other to be successful.”

Dairy payouts

Separately, the government announced last week it had seen 9,682 dairy farmers register for the second year of the Dairy Direct Payment Program, that sector’s compensation program for market share ceded in the CPTPP and Canada-European Union (CETA) trade pacts.

Payments to that group would total $459.4 million, the government said, bringing the total payout so far up to $813 million from the program’s $1.75 billion envelope.

The government said in November it would shorten the dairy program’s payment schedule to four years, down from the eight-year timeline announced in 2019, and instead complete all payments by 2023. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Tuesday laid out further specifics for the Dairy Direct Payment Program, which is set to start in the 2020-21 program year with direct cash payouts totalling $468 million.

But to get their 2020-21 payments, eligible dairy farmers will have to register with the program’s administrator, the Canadian Dairy Commission, by March 31 this year — and then re-register again by the same date in 2022 and 2023 to be eligible for payments in those program years.

Signed registrations must be received at the CDC no later than that date each year, the commission noted.

The CDC said it will collect information from provincial milk marketing boards on licensed quota holders, then calculate those quota holders’ individual payments based on the percentage of each producer’s provincial quota holdings.

These direct payments are meant to clear out a $1.75 billion federal compensation package announced in August 2019 for supply-managed dairy farmers’ market share lost in Canada’s multilateral trade deals with the European Union and Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc (CETA, CPTPP).

Following an initial cash payment worth $345 million in 2019-20, Bibeau in November last year committed to roll out the remaining funds as direct payments over three years, down from the eight-year stretch originally planned.

Beyond the 2020-21 program year, the dairy direct payments are expected to total $469 million in 2021-22 and $468 million again in 2022-23.

Eligible recipients in a given Dairy Direct Payment program year must have a valid dairy quota license for cows’ milk, registered with a provincial milk marketing board or agency, as of Oct. 31 that year. That group includes producers operating with loaned quota under a new entrant assistance program, and/or whole-farm leases with loaned quota, as of that date.

There is no maximum payment per farm, the CDC said; the payment amount depends on the quota held at Oct. 31 of each program year. An eligible producer with 80 cows could expect around $38,000 in each of the program years.

The payments to eligible producers under the program will be treated as income in the year the payment is received — and income tax will be assessed on the payments accordingly, the commission said.

Bibeau on Tuesday also reiterated $691 million is still coming in the form of 10 years’ worth of programs for Canadian chicken, egg, broiler hatching egg and turkey farmers, also as compensation for CETA and CPTPP.

Those programs’ specs are to be “designed in consultation with sector representatives and launched as soon as possible,” the government said.

The government also reiterated Tuesday it “remains committed to providing full and fair compensation” for supply-managed farmers who saw further market share ceded under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) — as well as compensation to affected processors of supply managed products. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Money promised to egg farmers would be well spent on product research, increasing sustainability, and consumer awareness — such as trust-building work done by the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, said Harold Froese, chair of Manitoba Egg Farmers.

Egg farmers, along with supply-managed chicken, turkey and broiler-hatching egg producers, will get $691 million in federal funds over 10 years, announced federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau during a virtual press conference on November 28.

This comes based on recommendations from a federal egg and poultry working group.

The compensation is for losses under the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade pact, which opened a portion of Canada’s poultry and egg market to the pact’s partner countries.

Bibeau also promised to halve the timeline in which dairy farmers would be compensated for losses under CPTPP and the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), which both saw portions of the Canadian dairy market opened to foreign imports.

Dairy farmers will get $1.75 billion in direct cash compensation over four years (they received the first payment late 2019 and early 2020) instead of eight years, said Bibeau.

Poultry farmers opted to receive compensation in the form of an investment program.

“We do not yet know the breakdown of the funding between the programs or further details,” said Wayne Hiltz, executive director of Manitoba Chicken Producers. “(We) look forward to working closely with the government in advance of the launch of the programs — currently expected for 2021.”

The announcement will give dairy farmers confidence to invest in greater efficiencies, said David Wiens, vice-president with Dairy Farmers of Canada and chair of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba.

“Dairy farmers across the country will be able to make those investments to create further efficiencies,” Wiens told media on November 28.

“I think particularly for the younger farmers, who have really struggled since these agreements have been ratified. They can actually now see opportunities how they can continue to make those investments in the farm,” he added.

“Our objective is to be better prepared to face the intensification of competition from imported dairy products made from milk produced elsewhere,” said Pierre Lampron, president of Dairy Farmers of Canada in a news release.

“These important investments on the farm can only come with a level of certainty as it relates to the promised compensation,” he added. “Reducing the timelines for the scheduled payments is recognition by the government of the importance of the foreign competition we face.”

Poultry, egg and dairy farmers still await details on compensation for losses under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Though commodity groups were pleased with the announcement, which was a long time coming, the timing was poor in relation to COVID-19 pandemic hardships, said Froese.

Some of the challenges in other sectors “are even worse than this,” said Froese. “As a Canadian and as a farmer that bothers me, even though I think this was warranted.”

Processors are among those currently left out in the cold. While Bibeau said the federal commitment to compensate processors for trade losses “is still strong,” she wasn’t willing to elaborate on details.

“What does the federal government actually mean when it commits to providing “full and fair” support for Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg processors?” said a joint news release on December 1 from the Dairy Processors Association of Canada (DPAC) and the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council (CPEPC).

“It is disappointing that the government consistently fails to recognize that the strength of the supply management system rests on the strength of both processors and farmers,” said Mathieu Frigon, president and CEO of DPAC.

In October, Frigon told the Co-operator that Canadian dairy processing has underperformed compared to other food-processing industries and this has coincided with the signing of the three trade agreements.

“A viable and sustainable supply management system requires healthy and thriving industry from the farm to the plate,” he said.

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Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Saturday announced $1.405 billion in compensation, as pledged in August last year to dairy farmers on an eight-year timeline, will instead flow as three years’ worth of direct payments.

That’s on top of the $345 million already paid out to dairy farms last December and January and a previously announced $250 million on-farm investment program.

Bibeau on Saturday also announced $691 million for a 10-year run of programs for supply-managed Canadian chicken, turkey, egg and broiler hatching egg producers.

Citing “sector demands,” the government said its feather-sector programs will go to “drive innovation and growth for farmers.”

The programs are to be designed “in consultation with sector representatives and launched as soon as possible,” the government said.

“Today’s announcement of a substantial compensation package for our dairy, poultry and egg farmers shows our support for a strong supply management sector for many generations to come,” Bibeau said in a release.

For dairy farmers, the new schedule calls for cash payments of $468 million in 2020-21, $469 million in 2021-22 and $468 million in 2022-23, to be issued “on the basis of their milk quota.”

The government gave the example of an owner of an 80-cow dairy farm, who would see a direct payment of about $38,000 in each of those years.

For affected sectors, Saturday’s announcement is meant to make good on long-pledged compensation for market access concessions Ottawa made to foreign exports in negotiating two major trade pacts.

Specifically, Saturday’s announcements cover the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) including Canada and 10 Asia-Pacific nations. The pacts took initial effect in September 2017 and late December 2018 respectively.

Ottawa reiterated Saturday it “remains committed to engaging the sector on full and fair compensation” for the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) — the successor deal to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — as well as compensation to processors of supply managed products.

Once they’re fully phased in, dairy concessions made under CETA, CPTPP and CUSMA, along with Canada’s World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, are estimated to be worth about 10 per cent of Canada’s current milk output alone, the government said.

(Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) separately estimates that by 2024, 18 per cent of domestic dairy production will have been “outsourced to foreign producers who will supply milk for imported dairy products that wind up on Canadian store shelves.”)

The government on Saturday also reiterated its post-CUSMA pledge “that there will be no more concessions on supply management in future trade negotiations,” including the recently agreed-upon transitional trade deal with the United Kingdom and future U.K. trade talks.

‘Time to deliver’

Representatives of the affected sectors lined up Saturday to hail the government’s latest pledges on compensation and programming.

Dairy farmers’ objective “is to be better prepared to face the intensification of competition from imported dairy products made from milk produced elsewhere” due to trade pact concessions, DFC president Pierre Lampron said in a separate release Saturday.

On-farm investments to that effect “can only come with a level of certainty as it relates to the promised compensation,” he said. “Reducing the timelines for the scheduled payments is recognition by the government of the importance of the foreign competition we face, this is why today’s announcement is so significant.”

Egg Farmers of Canada, Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC), Turkey Farmers of Canada and Canadian Hatching Egg Producers, in a separate joint release, said the pledge of new programs “is a step in the right direction towards supporting farmers as they make ongoing improvements to their operations and enhance the long-term efficiency and sustainability of their farms.”

Canadian poultry and egg farmers “stand to suffer losses of billions in net operating income” from concessions made in the CPTPP alone, the groups said.

Saturday’s announcement, they said, draws on recommendations made in April last year by a poultry sector working group which had assessed the impact of the various trade deals in question.

“Farmers have waited a long time to see action on this file, and we believe that this is a step in the right direction,” CFC chair Benoit Fontaine said in the government’s release.

The feather groups said their farmers have also suffered “significant market losses” due to CUSMA and “look forward to working with government officials to assess CUSMA support measures.”

The federal opposition Conservatives’ agriculture critic Lianne Rood, in a separate release Saturday, described Bibeau’s announcements as more promises on which the Liberals have yet to pay up. The feather sector programs aren’t yet in place, she said, and dairy “farmers are, still, waiting for ‘Year 2’ payments.”

Further, she said, “we still have nothing on the table about (CUSMA). It is past time to deliver on promises made to supply-managed farmers.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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As Britain prepares to end its transition out of the European Union on Dec. 31, it has negotiated multiple rollover bilateral deals to maintain trade, with many simply replacing the terms the bloc had already agreed.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined Canada’s Justin Trudeau and their respective trade ministers on an online call to mark the deal, which paves the way for a tailor-made agreement covering more areas such as digital trade, small businesses, the environment and women’s economic empowerment.

“Today’s agreement underpins 20 billion pounds worth of trade and locks in certainty for thousands of jobs,” Liz Truss, the U.K.’s international trade secretary, said in a statement.

Her Canadian counterpart Mary Ng said the transitional agreement “largely replicates” the EU deal on tariff reductions and provisions for labour and environment. “We do want an ambitious, high level comprehensive trade agreement with the U.K.,” Ng said, signalling Canada wanted similar terms to the EU deal.

Canada’s Parliament must approve legislation that would enable the deal to come into effect.

Britain is Canada’s fifth largest trading partner after the United States, China, Mexico and Japan.

Johnson is trying to shape a new “global Britain” that can strike out alone and negotiate better trade agreements than the EU as part of what he says is the benefits of its historic decision to leave the world’s biggest trading bloc.

In less than two years it has agreed trade deals with 53 countries, accounting for 164 billion pounds (C$284.62 billion) of British bilateral trade. Johnson’s critics point out that many are largely the same as the EU deals.

The U.K.-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement will be subject to final legal checks before it is formally signed. “This is a good moment,” Trudeau said.

Export-oriented ag groups in Canada said the deal provides clarity and ensures continued market access for some agrifood exporters.

For those sectors, the deal provides “temporary certainty and stability,” Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance president Dan Darling said in a release Saturday.

“However, for other agrifood exporters, a transitional arrangement simply reinforces a situation that remains unacceptable under CETA (the Canada-E.U. free trade pact) due to the persistence of trade obstacles that continue to hinder Canadian exports.”

CAFTA called on the parties to “return to the negotiating table as soon as possible in order to reach a comprehensive and more ambitious pact that removes tariffs and non-tariff barriers, provides liberal rules of origin and creates a level playing (field).”

Cereals Canada CEO Dean Dias, in a separate release Saturday, said the continuity agreement “is a positive outcome for Canadian wheat farmers and exporters, especially those operating in a highly integrated supply chain with important U.K. millers and food processors.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Kate Holton and Amran Abocar. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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