FCC Identifies Global Trade Tensions as Key Factor to Watch in 2020

Feb 03, 2020

The Chief Agricultural Economist with Farm Credit Canada is advising Canadian agriculture sector stakeholders to pay close attention to developments on the global trade front during 2020. Farm Credit Canada has identified global trade tensions as one of three key factors that have the potential to shape Canada’s agriculture and food industry outlook in 2020.

J.P. Gervais, FCC’s Chief Agricultural Economist, notes, while 2019 ended with a tentative phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China, Canada is still dealing with its own tensions with China, India and Italy.

Clip-J.P. Gervais-Farm Credit Canada:

The effect of trade tensions is significant. There's no doubt. We export more than 50 percent of our primary production in one way or the other, whether we export it in raw form or whether we export it in processed food products so export markets are a big deal. I do think that the tensions are still ongoing when it comes to Canada and some of the bigger partners that we have like China and India.

That's one thing to monitor, whether this is going to get resolved in 2020 and, if it does, I think it opens up possibilities for Canadian farms. Second is the tensions that involve other countries, most specifically China and the U.S. with these two being so significant in terms of their market share. Both of them have a lot of potential impact in the market place.

If they do resolve some of their differences, I would expect North American prices of commodities to go up. A third one that I would argue is the impact of all disruptions that we're talking about on the overall economic outlook of the different partners that Canada has that buy Canadian ag commodities and food. In that case I think the outlook remains fairly positive on average.

Source : Farmscape

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.