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FPT ag minister meeting agrees on new Sustainable CAP

Last week, the federal, provincial, and territorial (FPT) ministers of agriculture reached an agreement in principle for the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership at their annual meeting in Saskatoon. This new, five-year agreement will inject $500 million in new funds, representing a 25 per cent increase in the cost-shared portion of the partnership.

To enhance economic sustainability, the ministers agreed to improve business risk management (BRM) programs, including raising the AgriStability compensation rate from 70 per cent to 80 per cent. Under the cost-shared envelope, they agreed in principle to the $250 million Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program to support ecological goods and services provided by the agriculture sector.

Over the course of the agreement, the ministers consented to implement new measures to the suite of BRM programs, which will make them more timely, equitable and easy to understand, as well as better able to protect producers against climate risk. Ministers will continue to collaborate with producers to ensure they have a suite of programs they can rely on when they face extraordinary situations.

Today, federal, provincial & territorial #CdnAg Ministers agreed on shared commitments for the Next Agricultural Policy Framework.

We have an ambitious plan to advance sustainable growth & the competitiveness of our agriculture & agri-food sector.

See my statement 👇 pic.twitter.com/GSD7glTRIJ

— Marie-Claude Bibeau (@mclaudebibeau) July 22, 2022

The new agreement includes stronger targets, such as a three to five megatonne (Mt) reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, increasing sector competitiveness, revenue and exports, and increased participation of Indigenous Peoples, women and youth. There will also be a focus on measuring the results of framework investments.

In addition to the new agreement and BRM improvements, the ministers advanced discussions on other priority areas, including the country’s unique opportunity to feed Canadians and the world through global leadership. The ministers discussed market access and food supply chain and trade issues, and how to help maximize Canada’s contribution to the global food supply. They also discussed the importance of reducing barriers to interprovincial trade and welcomed four pilot projects focussed on domestic trade in border regions and Ready to Grow plants.

The ministers also discussed the importance of ensuring that efforts to reduce GHG emissions from fertilizer or other agricultural sources do not impede Canada’s ability to contribute to domestic and global food security, now or in the future, agreeing to continue working together and with the sector’s value chain to build on producer’s efforts.

They discussed labour and ongoing work towards a federal National Agricultural Labour Strategy and regulatory priorities, as well as progress made on a Code of Conduct for grocery retailers and suppliers, which included a presentation by the industry steering committee on concrete elements of a code. The ministers encouraged industry to present a complete code by November 2022.

The ministers addressed the importance of the health of bee populations, domestic and native, to Canada’s economy and the environment, and agreed to work together to make science-based decisions about the safe import of honeybees.

It was agreed that Quebec will use its targets and accountability mechanisms to contribute to the collective results of the partnership.