Feds set up ag working groups

Oct 31, 2018

The groups will help the supply managed sectors navigate new trade agreements

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The federal government is taking steps to help supply managed industries adjust to operating with two new trade agreements.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is setting up working groups to help the poultry, egg and dairy sectors manage the challenges associated with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The agency made the announcement on Monday.

Member nations in both trade agreements received access to Canada’s supply managed industries.

The working groups will include members of government, as well as national and regional representatives from each industry. The committee members will “collaborate to develop strategies to fully and fairly support farmers and processors to help them adjust” to the new trade deals, the federal government says.

Bringing farmers and the federal government together shows a commitment to helping the ag industry navigate these new trade deals, said Carol Leeming, an egg farmer from Huron County.

“I appreciate the federal government feels that it should set up these groups,” she told Farms.com. “They should be able to communicate clearly about what the issues are and what opportunities could be available.”

The dairy industry will have two working groups.

One will help dairy farmers bring innovations to their farms, and the other will help develop mitigation strategies.

The federal government has committed to a compensation package to offset the impacts of the USMCA and CPTPP. Farmers hope the working groups will help keep the federal government accountable to its promises.

“When CETA was announced, the federal government offered compensation for producers putting up a new barn or installing new technology,” Colin Elliot, a dairy producer from Simcoe County, told Farms.com. “About 95 per cent of us haven’t received anything. So, if the federal government is saying they’re going to help us out, we have to make sure they follow through on that.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.