Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council for Public Affairs (SACPA) presents a session discussing the potential for growth in Canadian food exports and technology.

Agri-food Trade and Export: Is there a Growing Market for Canadian Farm Produce?

Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 10 a.m. MST

YouTube Live link: https://youtu.be/cslpni-7GcU

Canada has traditionally been a major exporter of agricultural commodities, technology, equipment and food. Yet, in many ways, Canada’s position in global food exports indicates potential for growth. In 2019, Canada ranked fifth among global commodity exporters and 11th in food.

As the world’s population expands and especially the portion of it that is “middle class” grows, demand for better quality and higher-priced food will climb. This, in turn, creates opportunities for Canada to increase exports to meet this need directly as well as the technology and equipment needs for others who will also be increasing production to satisfy increased demand. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global food industry and highlighted the importance of a robust agri-food supply chain at home and abroad. Canada’s competitive advantage in agriculture and food production is very relevant with abundant natural resources, productivity, innovative entrepreneurs and a well-established food safety reputation.

The Canadian government’s 2017 objective for agricultural commodities and food exports is to reach C$75 billion by 2025. So far, exports have increased from $61 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2019, with most of the growth driven by exports to the US. The speaker will argue there’s great potential for growth in agri-food exports to other countries beyond the US and particularly to China and South-East Asia.

Speakers:                   Carlo Dade and Sharon Sun

As director of the Trade & Investment Centre, Carlo Dade develops and leads research to promote growth and profitability in western Canada’s export economy. Carlo has a long history in international public policy, most recently as Senior Fellow in the University of Ottawa’s School of International Development and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is also a member of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI).

Carlo has been a leading voice in debates on recent Canadian free trade agreements and development of trade infrastructure. He is a leading global expert on pan-Pacific trade, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Pacific Alliance trade blocs.

As the Trade Policy Economist at the Canada West Foundation, Sharon Zhengyang Sun specializes in international trade and trade infrastructure policy research. She has taken the lead on research projects including the impact of Made-in-China 2025 on Canadian trade, and western Canadian export opportunities with Japan under the CPTPP. Other work includes the impact of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement on western Canada, addressing Chinese non-tariff barriers on Canadian agricultural exports and other trade agreement and trade related issues. She is a PhD candidate at Carleton University focused on Canada-China trade.

SACPA thanks the Canada West Foundation and Choose Lethbridge for making this presentation possible.

In order to ask questions of our speaker in the chat feature of YouTube, you must have a YouTube account and be signed in. Please do so well ahead of the scheduled start time, so you’ll be ready. Go the YouTube Live link provided in this session flyer and on the top right of your browser click the “sign in” button. If you have Google or Gmail accounts, they can be used to sign in. If you don’t, click “Create Account” and follow along. Once you are signed in, you can return to the live stream and use the chat feature to ask your questions of the speaker. Remember, you can only participate in the chat feature while we are livestreaming.

Link to SACPA’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFUQ5mUHv1gfmMFVr8d9dNA

For further information on the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs, visit the SACPA website.