CFA Statement on Agriculture and Agri-Food Mandate Letter

Ottawa – The following is a statement from CFA President Mary Robinson on the recently released mandate letter for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau.

 

“The CFA is pleased to see the contents of the Agriculture and Agri-Food mandate letter. It has been an especially tough year for Canadian agriculture due to obstacles such as erratic weather, trade disputes and politically-motivated product bans. The mandate letter shows the government has been listening and looks to provide the sector with the capacity to surmount these obstacles in the future.”

 

“CFA was especially pleased to see explicit mention of developing methods to provide faster short-term support for farmers who are affected by trade disputes, something that the CFA has been pressing for since the summer. A review of Business Risk Management (BRM) programming is also mentioned, with a special focus on Agri-Stability. However, CFA is worried that the Liberal platform commitment of considering enhanced BRM support was not mentioned, and we are concerned with the limitations that cost neutrality imposes on any review of BRM programming.”

 

“CFA was also pleased to see that the Canada Water Agency would be developed. CFA, along with fellow stakeholders in both the agriculture and environment sectors, believe that new funding is needed to support a dedicated national program to reliably monitor the occurrence of pesticides in water and generate the data needed for the Pest Management Regulatory Agency assessments. We hope that the new Canada Water Agency will be mandated to carry out the monitoring to generate this much needed data.”

 

“CFA was disappointed that the letter did not expand the National Food Policy further, to be more holistic and truly reflect a whole-of-government approach. Any National Food Policy will require the coordination of multiple government departments to be effective, as food touches so many aspects of the daily life of Canadians, and we are disappointed to see the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food as the sole Minister with a mandate specific to the Food Policy.”

 

“Overall we at CFA believe this mandate sets the department on the right track. We will work diligently with government to ensure that farmers are at the table and that these policies meet their needs.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.