10 11 Advancing Women Conference Fall/Winter 2025 | East The Honourable John Barlow recently spoke at the AWC East 2025 banquet. John is a Member of Parliament for Foothills, Alberta, and Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament to represent the federal riding of Macleod on June 30, 2014, and was re-elected in 2015, 2019 and 2021, he now represents the riding of Foothills. John grew up in rural Saskatchewan and raised his family in southern Alberta. Before being elected to office in 2014, John had a 20-year career as an award-winning journalist. John began his presentation by sharing that he is quite comfortable in spaces led by women, shaped by his own experiences at home and in professional life. He believes women-led environments foster strength, collaboration, and shared understanding. These environments are increasingly common in agriculture, a sector that has seen significant growth in women’s leadership over recent years. John shared some important statistics with the women in the room. For the first time since 1991, the number of female farm operators in Canada has grown. In 2021, there were almost 80,000 women leading farm operations across Canada. Now that number is closer to 90,000. Across the country, 30% of all farm operators are women. In some provinces that number is even higher. In British Columbia, that number is almost 40%. “I want to assure you that this growth is not just in small farms or hobby operations, it is happening in the heart of commercial agriculture. Female operators on farms earning one to $2,000,000 have increased by more than 1,300 operators, on farms earning more than $2,000,000 in revenue field female operators grew by 86%.” He said that it is not just about statistics. Women are “pioneering precision agriculture, you are transforming livestock operations with robotic milking systems and women now operate more than 1/4 of those operations.” “Contributions from women on the soil are in the laboratory ensures Canadian agriculture is not just participating in the global market, but we are setting the standard.” “Over the last decade or so, instead of talking about everything that agriculture is doing, we’ve been kind of taking the approach of apologizing globally for what we do.” He shared that a recent study by the Global Institute of Food Security showed that Saskatchewan produces canola with a carbon footprint 67% lower than anywhere else on the planet. “Why are we not talking about that every single day, not only to Canadians, but our customers around the world? Because instead of Canada saying we need to reach a certain standard, we need to be going around the world and saying to them, you need to meet our standard,” John affirmed. “And you know what?” he continued. “We’ll show you how to get there. We’ll show you precision agriculture. We’ll show you minimal till. We’ll show you our technology, Denise Faguy CANADA IS A FOOD PRODUCTION POWERHOUSE CANADIAN FARMERS, RANCHERS, PRODUCERS SHOULD BE PROUD OF WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH INGENUITY, RESILIENCE, HARD WORK, AND THE WILLINGNESS TO TRY NEW THINGS! our innovations, we’ll show you our leadership!” He shared some interesting statistics to further support his thoughts. On average, global emissions from agriculture are about 25%. In Canada, the carbon emissions from agriculture at 8%, a third of the global average. “That tells you the innovation, the technology and the skill set the Canadian industry has accomplished. There is no other industry in this country that can make such a claim.” Canada has reduced its emissions by 50% over the last two decades. Modern practices in agriculture have cut carbon emissions by and from farming by 80 billion tons and saved over 200,000 litres of diesel each and every year. “We should all be proud. It’s because of Canadian farmers, ranchers, producers, and processors, we have achieved this through ingenuity, resilience, hard work, a commitment to doing more with less, but also the willingness to try new things.” John also acknowledged that there are challenges in the agriculture sector. Rising costs, regulatory burdens, market volatility, labor shortages, and unfortunately, government policies that often make farming harder, not easier, are stretching producers to their limits financially and certainly with their mental health. Farm debt is at record highs and realized net income fell $3.3 billion last year, the sharpest decline since 2018. “But behind every one of those numbers is a family working harder than ever to keep their operations going.” “John said agriculture is facing labour challenges that we cannot ignore. In 2022, an estimated 28,000 jobs were left vacant in the agriculture industry, leading to approximately $3.3 billion in lost revenue opportunities. “But again, the one bright spot is the growth of women participating in agriculture.” John says agriculture is an economic engine which we cannot ignore. “We should be championing and cheering it every single day.” He continued “In 2023, agriculture contributed $31.6 billion to Canada’s GDP -- more than the auto sector, forestry and manufacturing combined!” John wondered, “Why does agriculture not have a critical priority role with governments at all levels? Our agriculture and Agri food industries are among the most innovative, efficient, and sustainable in the world. Agriculture must play a critical pillar in our economic growth and help Canada regain its respect not only here at home, but around the world. “Because I truly believe, despite some of those challenges, that the opportunities within agriculture are incredible. Because frankly, as all of you in this room know, Canada makes what the world needs, quality, abundant, affordable food.” John shared his belief that Canadians do not understand what we are talking about when we talk about “agriculture.” He believes we need to change the branding to start talking about food production and food security. John concluded his presentation by saying, “Thank you for having me here tonight, for showing the world what the women in this room can do - lead agriculture in Canada as it continues to shine and grow.” A Company www.smallfarmcanada.ca ORDER BY PHONE: 866-260-7985 EXT 252 ORDER AT: www.smallfarmcanada.ca/subscribe SUBSCRIBE NOW & SAVE! YES! I would like to subscribe to Small Farm Canada! CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE NOW
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