Canada and Indonesia begin trade talks

Jun 21, 2021

Indonesia is a top destination for cereal crops, one industry group said

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Canada is engaging in bilateral trade discussions with a country in the Asia-Pacific region.

On Sunday, Trade Minister Mary Ng and Indonesian Trade Minister H.E. Muhammad Lutfi released a joint statement announcing Canada and Indonesia have launched negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two nations.

This comes after the federal government held consultations with Canadians about the possibility of a trade agreement with Indonesia.

Canadians submitted feedback between Jan. 9 and Feb. 23.

About a third of all responses came from the ag sector and 78 per cent of total responses supported the idea of a trade agreement between Canada and Indonesia.

Sectors within Canada’s ag industry expressed different concerns relating to a potential trade deal.

The dairy sector, for example, supports a trade agreement so long as the federal government upholds its commitment to not provide new market access for supply-managed products.

Bill C-216, which would amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act so the Foreign Affairs Minister cannot make any commitments related to dairy products, poultry or eggs, is in the committee stage.

Indonesia already imports Canadian ag products.

In 2019 Canada exported $893.4 million of agri-food and seafood products to Indonesia.

The top items headed to Indonesia from Canada that year were wheat and meslin, soybeans, frozen crabs, barley seed and skim milk powder.

At least one industry group has expressed its support for the trade agreement and the opportunities it can present to Canadian farmers.

“Indonesia is a major market and source of growth, especially for Canadian wheat exports. Consumers there buy 11% of Canada’s wheat exports to the world, bringing over 600 million dollars in value on average to Canadian farmers and exporters each year,” Dean Dias, CEO of Cereals Canada, said in a statement. ““We expect these negotiations to strengthen the stability of market access over the long-term. For Canadian farmers and exporters, promoting science-based policies that elevates the trade and business environment is a real priority.”

Farms.com has contacted Minister Ng’s office for comment on how agriculture will fit into the trade negotiations with Indonesia

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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