Canada's Agriculture Minister first woman ever to chair the FAO

Jul 11, 2023

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau chaired the biennial Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Conference last week in Italy.

This year's theme was water resource management.

Bibeau was the first woman to ever chair the FAO conference and the first Canadian to do it since 1997.

During her visit, she also met with Italian agri-food stakeholders, Canadian industry associations, and Canadians working at Rome-based international organizations and agencies.

She highlighted the strong economic ties and common values between Canada and Italy, specifically around Canadian durum wheat, and discussed how they could work together to increase trade and investments.

Bibeau also met bilaterally with the Philippines, her international counterparts from Australia, Netherlands, and Mexico, and Italy's Minister of Agriculture to reinforce Canada's commitment to deepening and diversifying agricultural trade; promoting Canadian agriculture and agri-food products; increasing the sustainability and innovation of agricultural production; and global food security.

Stats show that in 2022, Canada-Italy bilateral goods trade totalled $15.0 billion (€10.9 billion), an increase of nearly 52 per cent over pre-CETA trade, Canada imported approximately $12.1 billion (€8.9 billion) in goods from Italy, an increase of nearly 61per cent over pre-CETA imports.

Canada also exported approximately $2.8 billion (€2.0 billion) in goods to Italy in 2022, an increase of nearly 22 per cent over pre-CETA exports.

Source : Pembinavalley online

Video: Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard

On Friday, April 24, 2026, from 12 noon–1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s (PDA) Agricultural Business Development Center (ABDC), presented this webinar in the Understanding Agricultural Law Educational Series, a course designed to develop subject matter literacy and competence on fundamental issues of agricultural law for attorneys and business advisors who work with or represent agricultural or rural clients but may not necessarily specialize in agricultural law:

“Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard”

The Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, or advanced biofuels. Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and later expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the RFS is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This webinar provides an overview of the legal authority and structure for the RFS program and explain how it works, including the program’s system of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) and categories of renewable fuels. Additionally, this webinar addresses EPA annual volume requirement rulemaking and associated recent legal issues.