More than 80 per cent of respondents indicate concern over trade barriers and tariffs
Canadian farmers are worried about trade and tariffs.
That’s part of what a new report from Stratus Ag Research shows.
The research firm polled 1,000 Canadian farmers beginning in January about how concerned they are about 21 challenges including rising costs of production, commodity prices and the right to repair equipment.
But access to global markets trumped the other issues.
“Over 80% of farmers said they were concerned about new trade barriers that restrict access to global markets – 50% indicating a high degree of concern,” the report says. “Across provinces, concern was fairly consistent, slightly lower in BC where just over a third of farmers indicated a high level of concern.”
Following up on this, Stratus Ag asked farmers what message they’d like governments to hear from the ag community.
The top answer among respondents was to make agriculture a higher priority.
The agriculture and agri-food industry employs roughly 2.3 million Canadians, or one in every nine jobs across the country.
And the food and beverage processing sector is the largest manufacturing sector in Canada.
In addition, Canadian ag generates about $150 billion, or 7 per cent of Canada’s GDP.
But farmers feel their voices aren’t heard.
“Just pay more attention to agriculture,” one farmer said in the report. “It’s like we are the last thing to consider. Listen to the agricultural associations.”
Canadian farmers also expressed wanting the federal government to lift the tariffs on Chinese vehicles.
As a result of those tariffs the Canadian government imposed on Chinese EVs in October 2024, China put matching tariffs on canola, peas, pork, and seafood products.
Producers feel they’re caught in geopolitical crosshairs without consultation.
“Really concerned about China charging a tariff on Canola because we have a 100 percent tariff on their electric cars coming to Canada,” a farmer said in the report. “Who thought that was a good idea? Really think someone should keep us the farmers in mind when the government decides this stuff.”