Minister Caitlin Cleveland won’t be in attendance but reps from her department will be
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture will gather in Whitehorse, Yukon next month for an FPT ag ministers meeting.
At these meetings, ministers receive presentations from officials, discuss policy options and make decisions to build a stronger future for ag in the country.
At the previous meeting in July 2023, for example, the ministers discussed topics like the launch of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), African Swine Fever response, trade diversification and labour disruptions.
Leading up to next month’s meeting, Farms.com has reached out to provincial and territorial ministers across the country to find out what issues they’ll be bringing forward from producers in their jurisdictions.
The first response came from the Northwest Territories and Caitlin Cleveland, the minister of industry tourism and investment. She’s also the territory’s minister of education, culture and employment.
Caitlin Cleveland
She won’t be in attendance during the conference, but staff from her department will be, she told Farms.com in an email statement.
N.W.T. reps will highlight multiple issues during the meeting, Minister Cleveland said.
“Issues that are likely to be top of mind for this year’s conference include emergency preparedness, improvements to business risk management programming, and the reduction of internal barriers to trade, among others,” she said in her statement.
The average total farm area in the N.W.T. was 171.6 acres in 2021, Stats Canada data says. And in 2020, 63 of 96 farms between N.W.T. and Yukon reported direct sales.
By comparison, only 13.6 farms in Canada reported direct sales.
The Sustainable CAP deal between the territory and the federal government is $7.6 million.
Be sure to visit Farms.com often as more responses from provincial and territorial agriculture ministers will come in the days and weeks ahead.