Canada needs a national agriculture strategy with clear priorities and results according to a new report from a sector roundtable.
“Canada possesses significant agricultural potential, but legacy structures, regulatory fragmentation, aging infrastructure and heightened geopolitical trade risks are constraining the sector’s growth and competitiveness,” the report says.
“Rebuilding confidence among producers, investors and trading partners will require a clear, long-term vision for Canada’s agri-food system.”
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The Canada West Foundation, a west-focused think tank, released Building Future Success: Growing Canada’s agricultural sector on February 19. It summarizes discussions from a roundtable of agriculture, business and government experts convened in late 2025.
It argues that the progress of Canadian agri-food as a priority depends on action across four interconnected themes:
- On-farm investment
- Market and product diversification
- Infrastructure
- Technology and innovation
On-farm investment
The report argues that Canada needs more small-scale investment opportunities, as most current infrastructure focuses on larger-scale projects. It also needs infrastructure upgrades to help mitigate the risks of climate change.
The report authors also note the opportunities with a new generation of producers.
“A generational shift is reinforcing this opportunity,” the report reads. “Younger producers are more open to partnerships, cooperative models and public-private collaboration.”
Agriculture could take lessons from early stages in energy project development, “particularly in co-investment models that enable shared infrastructure and de-risk private capital,” the report adds.
Market and product diversification
On market and product diversification, the report focuses on potential for new opportunities for Canadian commodities.
The roundtable identifies value-added processing as an area for potential development. They also emphasize the need for market intelligence to identify emerging opportunities for Canadian goods, both raw and processed.
Infrastructure
Roundtable participants raise concerns that Canada’s reputation as a trading partner suffering as a result of infrastructure decisions.
More representation from the sector could help address this problem.
“Moving forward, port governance and decision making should include engagement with representatives from the agriculture sector to ensure sectoral needs are considered as trade patterns and partners evolve,” the report says.
Technology and innovation
The report’s discussion on technology and innovation makes the case for increased research and development and for investments to focus on the sector as a whole.
Sector leaders raise concerns about the disconnect between research priorities and on-farm needs.
“Investments in the Canadian agricultural sector have generally been quite targeted and have not been focused on benefiting the sector as a whole,” the report says. “On the other hand, some other countries employ a more holistic, industry-wide approach.”
Industry protection starts with policy
The report makes a case for prioritizing agriculture in an era when trust in Canada’s two largest trading partners is decreasing.
Protecting the industry starts with domestic policy that recognizes the importance of the sector and “does not expect one industry to bear the brunt of geopolitical retaliation,” it says.
The report points to recent trade tensions with China, which saw canola tariffed in apparent response to Canada’s restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles. Some within the sector saw this as canola being used as collateral in a larger trade dispute.
“Regulatory frameworks that reflect this prioritization and are built in consultation with sector stakeholders could also help address some of the challenges the government has faced when weighing the economic, environmental and social impacts along with the benefits of the sector.”
