Ag part of upcoming Canadian trade mission to India

May 16, 2023

Lentils topped Canada’s ag exports to India in 2021

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Canada and India’s trade representatives will include agriculture in their discussions when they meet later this year.

At the end of the sixth Canada-India Ministerial Dialogue on Trade & Investment, Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal committed to discussing agriculture in October, when Minister Ng leads a trade mission to India.

The ministers agreed to “forging partnerships to take advantage of the complementarities in such sectors as agricultural goods, chemicals, green technologies, infrastructure, automotive, clean energy, electronics, and minerals and metals,” a May 10 readout says.

Canada and India currently do not have a bilateral trade agreement.

The two countries began negotiations in 2010. Those talks ended in 2017.

Since 2022, India and Canada have been negotiating an Early Progress Trade Agreement.

This kind of agreement pertains to specific sectors. The one between Canada and India includes agriculture.

Minister Ng is confident it’s “not going to be years” before Canada and India sign some sort of agreement, she said on May 8, The Canadian Press reported..

India was Canada’s 18^th largest market for agri-food and seafood products in 2021.

That year, Canda exported $546.3 million of agri-food and seafood goods, good for about 1.4 per cent of India’s market share.

The top Canadian ag exports to India that year were:

Lentils - $510.4 million
Solid lactose and lactose syrup - $6.8 million
Almonds - $6.7 million

Video: Residue Management

Residue Management conservation practice manages the amount, orientation, and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year-round while limiting soil-disturbing activities used to grow and harvest crops in systems where the field surface is tilled prior to planting. This video explores how Ryan McKenzie implemented this conservation practice on his farm in Samson, Alabama.

Practice benefits:

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The Conservation at Work video series was created to increase producer awareness of common conservation practices and was filmed at various locations throughout the country. Because conservation plans are specific to the unique resource needs on each farm and also soil type, weather conditions, etc., these videos were designed to serve as a general guide to the benefits of soil and water conservation and landowners should contact their local USDA office for individual consultation.