OTTAWA, February 11 – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) proudly congratulates our 1st Vice-President, Mr. Todd Lewis, on his appointment to the Senate of Canada.

A dedicated advocate for Canadian farmers, Todd Lewis has been a steadfast leader within the Canadian agricultural sector for many years. His commitment to strengthening the voice of farmers and addressing key agricultural challenges has been evident throughout his tenure with CFA and other agricultural organizations.

Hailing from Saskatchewan, Todd Lewis is a lifelong farmer operating a multi-generational family farm near Gray, Saskatchewan, where he produces grain, canola, lentils, and other crops alongside his family. With deep roots in the farming community, Todd has been instrumental in driving policy discussions and advocating for farmers on issues such as the federal carbon tax, Business Risk Management programs, transportation, rural connectivity, and support for producers facing severe drought conditions. During his CFA tenure, he worked alongside Senator Mary Robinson (former CFA President) and Keith Currie (current CFA President) to guide the agricultural sector through COVID-19, transportation strikes, and strategic government negotiations on key policies. Representing CFA both across Canada and on the international stage, he earned the respect of colleagues and stakeholders through his poise, determination, and keen insight.

Todd’s leadership journey began with the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), where he served as a councilor before joining the Board of Directors in 2009. He was elected President of APAS in 2016, a role in which he played a pivotal role in amplifying the concerns of Saskatchewan farmers on both provincial and national stages. At CFA, Todd has been a long-serving board member and previously held the position of 2nd Vice-President before assuming his current role as 1st Vice-President and Chair of the CFA Transportation Committee.

Keith Currie, CFA President, expressed his admiration for Todd’s contributions, stating, “Todd has been a tireless champion for Canadian farmers, bringing their concerns to the forefront of policy discussions. His deep understanding of agricultural issues and dedication to the sector make him an invaluable addition to the Senate. I am proud to call Todd a good friend and Canada is in good hands with such a tremendous leader. We look forward to seeing him continue his advocacy at this new level.”

The CFA extends its heartfelt congratulations to Todd Lewis on this well-deserved appointment. We are confident that his wealth of experience, passion for agriculture, and steadfast commitment to rural communities will make a significant impact in the Senate of Canada.

February 7th, Ottawa – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) has calculated that by Saturday, February 8^th, 2025, a Canadian household of average income will have earned enough to pay for their entire year’s grocery bill.

Each year, CFA examines the proportion of income that Canadians spend on food to explore year-over-year expenditure changes and raise consumers’ understanding of Canada’s food system, from Farm-Gate-to-Plate.

Canadians spent 10.7% of their disposable income on food in 2024, which is lower than the 11.1% of disposable income spent on food in 2023. Due to this, Food Freedom Day falls one day before it did in 2023, which was February 9^th.

With food prices having seen multiple years of significant inflation, it’s important to provide further context on the Food Freedom Day metric, as the average Canadian disposable income is not representative of every Canadian’s experience or the effects that rising food prices have on them. While Canada’s food system continues to provide access to affordable food by global standards, inflation and other global events have negatively impacted food affordability and security greatly over the past few years.

Adding onto this, recent threats of tariffs from the U.S. hold the potential to create a sharp increase in many food prices, further exacerbating the struggles with food prices that many Canadians are facing. This reality only serves to emphasize the importance of maintaining open and predictable trade across highly integrated North American agri-food supply chains.

Due to this, CFA continues to analyze Food Freedom Day with an eye to the differential impact food prices have on Canadian households based on household income levels to show the percentage of disposable income that they spent on food last year. The graph below presents this information.

Source: Distributions of household economic accounts, income, consumption and saving, by characteristic, quarterly

As can be seen in the graph above, there is a large difference between how much disposable income households in the lowest income quintile (26%) and the highest income quintile (5%) spent on food and beverages throughout the year.

CFA would like to note that while Canadians have seen food prices increase steadily throughout the past few years on the grocery shelves, farmers receive a small percentage of the price that consumers pay for food, and rising retail prices are not normally reflective of what is paid at the farm-gate.

“The Food Freedom Day metric shows that despite Canada being a trusted food supplier across the world, there is still a large group of Canadians that struggle with food affordability,” said Keith Currie CFA President.

“With the threat of tariffs hanging over our head from the U.S., these food affordability concerns only highlight the critical importance of a united Canadian approach to maintaining open and predictable North American trade. This is essential to avoid exacerbating food affordability concerns and ensuring a resilient agriculture and food industry.”

Tariffs Will Have Severe Negative Consequences for Farmers and Consumers in Canada and the U.S.

February 2nd, Ottawa – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), who represent over 190,000 family farms across Canada, is extremely disappointed to see the widespread 25% tariffs implemented by the U.S. today.

Canada and the U.S. share one of the most significant agricultural trading relationships in the world, raising serious concerns about the short and long-term ramifications these measures will have on producers and consumers on both sides of the border. The U.S. sells more goods to Canada than to any other country. Roughly 70% of Canadian goods exported to the U.S. are used in the production of other goods. These tariffs will disrupt highly integrated supply chains, resulting in price increases for consumers and negatively affecting the competitiveness of North American agriculture.

“These tariffs are going to have negative consequences for farmers and consumers on both sides of the border. There’s no question.” said Keith Currie, CFA President.

“Our agriculture sectors rely on each other, not just to sell products to one another but also to provide essential inputs to grow food such as fertilizer. No one wins in a trade dispute between Canada and the U.S. except for our competitors around the world. Tariffs are quite simply, bad business.”

“We stand in support with the Government of Canada’s immediate response but, right now, we need strong diplomatic leadership to bring a swift resolution to these damaging trade measures. That is in everyone’s best interests.” said Currie.

CFA is extremely concerned with the potential impacts of these tariffs on the Canadian agri-food sector and is actively working with the government on next steps to ensure that impacted farmers and farm businesses will have the support they need to weather this storm, particularly those impacted by the compounding effects of Canadian countervailing measures.

Viterra-Bunge Approval Raises Concerns for Canadian Farmers

January 15th, Ottawa – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) has concerns with the decision made by the Government of Canada to approve Bunge Ltd.’s US$8.2 billion acquisition of Viterra Ltd. While the decision to approve the merger does, in part, address some of the concerns raised by producers earlier in the process and includes a $520 million investment commitment from Bunge, the conditions set for the deal do not go far enough to truly ensure a competitive marketplace for Canadian farmers.

“We need to ensure that, at a minimum, the conditions set around this deal are being met,” said Keith Currie, President of the CFA. “Our concerns from the beginning were that this deal would not be in the best interests of farmers and the fact that Bunge has maintained its minority ownership stake in G3 certainly furthers those concerns. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it is the farmers who will pay.”

Building on the Competition Bureau’s initial assessment of the merger’s potential negative consequences on competition in regions across Canada, research conducted by the University of Saskatchewan found that this deal, without a divestment of G3 would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue for farmers every year.

Moving forward, CFA believes it’s critical that Government ensures all parties are financially accountable to commitments they put forward while going through the merger process. Further steps should also be taken to ensure subsequent merger reviews closely consider the impact of any further consolidation on Canadian producers in what are already highly concentrated upstream industries.

CFA Pleased to Present Report: Data as a Foundation for Sustainable Productivity Growth; Signs onto Ag Data Transparent Program as First Canadian Farm Industry Member

September 24, 2024, Ottawa – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture is proud to present its recently published report, Data as a Foundation for Sustainable Productivity Growth.

The report emphasizes the critical need for a comprehensive policy and legislative framework to harness the benefits of advanced data analytics and precision farming. It highlights the essential role of both government and industry leaders in establishing clear parameters for data use, sharing and interoperability, alongside fostering public and private investments in connectivity infrastructure and equipment standards.

The report includes six key recommendations to harness data to help achieve agriculture’s immense potential as both an economic engine and a powerful tool in the fight against climate change.

Read the full report here.

On top of the release of this report, CFA is also proud to announce that it will be the first Canadian farm industry member of the Ag Data Transparent (ADT) organization. Members are committed to supporting ADT by upholding the Core Principles and advocating for data transparency within their organization and in the agricultural industry. Companies that want to be recognized as Ag Data Transparent must submit their contracts with farmers for certification by ADT which is a not-for-profit group guided by farmer voice.

This certification looks to verify compliance with the ADT Core Principles, improve farmers trust of data platforms, simplify contracts and educate farmers on issues surrounding privacy, security and the use of agriculture data.

CFA remains dedicated to ensuring that agriculture data is used in the best interest of Canadian farmers, supporting their financial, environmental and social sustainability while also driving efficiency and growth.

CFA Pleased to see end to Labour Disruption Impacting Rail Service Across Canada

August 23rd, 2024, Ottawa – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), who represent over 190,000 farm families across Canada, is pleased that the Minister of Labour has acted in the best interests of Canadians, including farmers, by invoking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code and directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration.

While there will be residual impacts on farmers from the gradual shutdown of service in the lead up to the lockout and the complete shutdown on Thursday, there is no doubt that a prolonged nationwide disruption of rail service would have severely impacted Canadian farmers and the Canadian economy for weeks and months to come. Our hope is that rail service will be fully restored as soon as possible, and that the CPKC work stoppage is also resolved quickly to avoid the severe consequences that a prolonged disruption will cause.

The CFA was also encouraged by the Minister’s commitment to examine the conditions leading to repeated labour disruptions in the rail sector. The agriculture sector has faced several labour disruptions in the past few years, including eight work stoppages over the past six years alone. The CFA and Canadian farmers agree. This cannot continue if Canada is to maintain its long-held reputation as a reliable source of quality agri-food products.

“The reputation of Canada’s farmers and ranchers as a trusted food supplier, both domestically and internationally was at risk with this lockout,” said Keith Currie, CFA President. “The Minister’s decision to step in and force a resolution to the disruption was the right thing to do.”

Grocery Code of Conduct Promotes Fairness Through Canadian Food Supply Chain

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), who represent190,000 farm families across Canada, welcomes the announcement from the Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministers of Agriculture committing Ministers’ support for the Grocery Code of Conduct (GCOC) Adjudication Office, following agreement from all key stakeholders to participate in the industry-led code.

CFA has been working with key industry stakeholders from across the grocery supply chain to develop the GCOC since 2021. While work remains to implement the code, the short-term funding provided will provide the necessary time to develop the tools and processes needed to support the long-term success of the GCOC.

“CFA has been at the table encouraging the development of a code for years. We couldn’t be more pleased to see broad stakeholder buy-in and this initial support from FPT governments to get the code up and running. We look forward to seeing the positive impacts the code will have on supply chain dynamics and see all our hard work come to fruition,” said Keith Currie, CFA President.

CFA also appreciates the emphasis Ministers placed on working with producers to seize the opportunities presented by technology, data and innovation, having engaged Ministers on the role data plays in agriculture during the CFA’s FPT Roundtable on the eve of the FPT Ministerial.

“Data is at the heart of everything we do in agriculture. Following the discussion we had last week, it’s increasingly evident we need the support of governments to create the enabling conditions that will optimize data in support of productivity, food security, and the sustainability of our sector,” said Currie.

CFA looks forward to continuing its work with government and industry to ensure Canadian agriculture is better leveraging data to drive sustainable productivity growth.