Canada’s food processing outlook clouded by weather and geopolitical uncertainty

FCC Ag Economics is doing a mid-year check-in on our January 2019 Outlooks. Throughout July and August, we’ll update our expectations about profitability across seven Canadian ag sectors (dairy, broilers, red meat, food processing, horticulture, agribusiness and grains, oilseeds and pulses). We’ll describe what’s happened in 2019 to-date and you should monitor in the next six months.

 

Our January forecast for varied food processing margins is holding up well. 

 

Demand is growing for potato products and red meat, but Canadian export potential continues to be limited due to both production and market access challenges. Potato processors, coming off a difficult year, must wait for the 2019 crop to tell if yield, quality and overall production improvements will provide better margins. Red meat processors may see positive margins strengthen, but that outlook is highly uncertain given ongoing trade tensions and improving weather on the prairies. Bread and pastries are growing in global import markets, but bakeries will likely see challenges in the year ahead.

Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.