Guest column: Trump tariffs? Farming tough enough already in Canada

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By: Drew Spoelstra

As a new U.S. president was sworn in and a new government takes power, a big concern for Canada is the potential for tariffs on Canadian goods, including agriculture and agri-food products.

Canada exports approximately 60% of its agricultural production to the U.S., including most of the greenhouse vegetables grown domestically.

We also export a large part of our beef, pork and canola oil production.
Canadian agriculture sources a significant amount of livestock feed, veterinary products, farm machinery and agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizer and crop protection products, from the U.S., making the agri-food sector tightly connected across our shared border.

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There are countless benefits that both countries enjoy because of our long history as reliable trading partners, and it’s important for Canada and the United States to maintain an integrated economy that allows goods to flow across the border in both directions without disruption.

If our costs on the farm go up, consumers will feel it at the grocery store. With news this week that tariffs would not go up immediately, there is an opportunity for our premiers, our federal government, and our agricultural stakeholders to work to change the course and try to convince President Trump and his administration that this is the wrong
approach.

We’re all in this together. We need a Team Canada approach.

The potential impacts of tariffs can’t be ignored. With implications for farmers across the country, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and the federal and provincial governments have been actively working to develop proactive solutions to any possible disruptive actions.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) has been supporting
these efforts since the threat of tariffs was first raised last fall. Representatives from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the CFA recently attended the Legislative Ag Chairs Summit in Iowa, an annual event that brings together elected officials and government and industry leaders in the agricultural sector from both sides of the border.

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CFA has also participated in stakeholder roundtables hosted by
Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence McAuley. Along with AAFC and CFA, we will be participating in the American
Farm Bureau Federation convention starting Jan. 24 in Texas.

All of these meetings are aimed at raising the profile of Canadian
agriculture, at strengthening and expanding relationships between
farmers and farm organizations in both countries, and reinforcing that a tariff war will only have negative consequences for everyone on both sides of the border.

Farming is already a tough business, with weather extremes like floods, drought and storms, as well as pests and diseases that can impact our crops and livestock a constant threat.

Added to that are an increasingly cumbersome regulatory environment, a growing tax burden at all levels of government, and prices paid to farmers for their products that in some sectors are not keeping pace with inflation and rising production costs.

All of these are factors beyond the control of farmers that combine to hinder the growth and competitiveness of our sector — which in Ontario contributes more than $50 billion to the economy every year and provides jobs for more than 870,000 people, or about 11% of our
provincial workforce.

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This underscores more than ever the need for government to step up and support the agri-food sector.

Federally, this means prioritizing food production as an activity of critical national importance. In Ontario, this includes expanding funding for the Risk Management Program and other initiatives that provide a safety net for farm businesses in uncertain times like these.

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We should be proud of our agricultural industry and its ability to feed not just Canadians but also Americans and others around the world. We should work together to keep the sector strong in ways that bring benefits to both sides of the border.

Drew Spoelstra is president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

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