Team Canada Approach for Agriculture

Mar 10, 2025
By Jean-Paul McDonald
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

Ministers of Agriculture Unite to Support Canadian Agriculture Amid U.S. Tariffs

“As Ministers of Agriculture, we are united in our commitment to support our hardworking producers and to keep the sector strong. Our partnership is more important than ever as we stand together in the face of this uncertainty and work to find solutions to weather this storm,” said the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food after his meeting with the Honourable Ron Kostyshyn, Manitoba Minister of Agriculture, and colleagues -- provincial and territorial Ministers of Agriculture.

The meeting was held as part of ongoing discussions related to the impacts and potential responses to unjustified tariffs being implemented by the United States.

Following their meeting of February 7, 2025, Ministers reaffirmed their commitment in taking a united ‘Team Canada’ approach to support the agriculture and agri-food sector in response to tariffs being levied by the United States.

The agriculture and agri-food sector plays a vital role in the Canadian economy, creating jobs, and feeding millions both domestically and abroad.

Ministers discussed various coordinated approaches to help Canadian agri-food producers and processors diversify international trade as well as to boost internal trade options.

Ministers noted the importance of utilizing the suite of business risk management (BRM) programs to meet the current and future needs of producers. On March 7, the federal Government announced that the interest-free limit under the Advance Payments Program will be set at $250,000 for 2025. This change will represent estimated savings of up to $65 million for over 13,000 producers.

Canada is a globally-trusted trading partner and all orders of government are committed to ongoing engagement with key partners to help ensure that the Canadian agriculture sector remains strong and Canada continues to be a source of world-class products that contribute to global food security.

Video: Is China Buying US Soybeans + USDA Nov 14th Crop Report could be “Game Changing”

After a week of a U.S./China trade truce, markets/trade is skeptical that we have not seen a signed agreement nor heard much from China or seen any details. There are rumors that China is buying soybean futures & not the physical. Trust in Trump?
12 MMT of U.S. soybean purchases by China by year-end is better than 0 but we all need to give it more time and give it a chance to unfold. China did lower the tariffs on Ag and is buying U.S. wheat and sorghum.
U.S. supreme court could rule against Trumps tariffs, but the Trump administration does have a plan B.
U.S. government shutdown is now the longest in history at 38 days.
But despite a U.S. government shutdown we will be getting a USDA November crop report next Friday and it could be “game changing.” If the USDA provides a bullish surprise with lower U.S. corn and soybean yields and ending stocks that are lower than expected both corn and soybean futures will break out above their ceilings at $4.35/bu and $11.35/bu respectively.
The funds continued their selling in live and feeder cattle futures on continued fears that the Trump administration want to lower U.S. beef prices. The fundamentals have not changed, only market psychology has.
Stocks markets continue to worry about a weak U.S. job market, but you can blame ChatGPT for that. In the future, we will have a more efficient, productive and growing economy with a higher unemployment rate until we have more skilled AI workers.
After 34 new record highs in the S & P 500 and 124 new records in the NASDAQ in 2025 we are back to a correction and investor profit taking as AI valuations may have gotten too stretched near-term ahead of NVDA’s 3rd quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 19th. But this is not an AI bubble.
75% of Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk!
It has rained in South America in the last 7 days, but both the American and European models agree that Central Brazil remains dry in the next 14-days!

An eventful few days for Canadian ag

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